This cruel harassment of everyday Americans and callous disregard for their fundamental freedoms must be stopped. The U.S. Supreme Court has an opportunity to do that.
The same law being used to punish Jack is also threatening the free speech rights of graphic artist and website designer Lorie Smith, whose case I argued before the High Court in December. The case 303 Creative v. Elenis will decide whether government officials may force Lorie—or indeed any other artist—to create custom art and communicate messages inconsistent with her beliefs.
In both cases, Colorado has made its message clear: artists who agree with the government’s current viewpoints may create freely, while those who don’t will have their beliefs driven from the public square.
[The Supreme Court created this problem in Obergefell, and then has steadfastly refused to address it ever since. The conservative dissenters in that opinion warned that this would happen, and Anthony Kennedy ignored it. This problem of compelled speech has not gone away through the court’s wishful-thinking strategy, and it will take a robust response in 303 Creative to put an end to it. — Ed]
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