More First Amendment Risks

The threats to free speech are not confined to Silicon Valley and Big Tech.  The “tyrants of tolerance” in the militant LGBTQ movement and in Big Government are threatening free speech and religious liberty at every turn.

This morning, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case challenging the way Colorado enforces its “public accommodation” law.  If this sounds familiar it should. 

In 2018, the Supreme Court ruled that Colorado violated the First Amendment rights of Christian baker Jack Phillips.  But it did so on narrow grounds that avoided larger constitutional issues at stake in the case.

And because the justices dodged those issues in 2018, Phillips continues to be harassed by radical activists who are determined to drive him out of business. 

So much for “live and let live.”  The left has no intention of letting conservative Christians live out their faith in the public square.  (See last item.)

Seeing how the Phillips case was playing out, web designer Lorie Smith preemptively sued the state in 2016.  Smith, who is a Christian, wants to provide services creating websites for couples getting married.  But she does not believe in same-sex marriage, and does not believe the state can compel her to create websites that promote it. 

Colorado disagrees, and believes it can either force Smith to promote same-sex marriage or punish her financially for refusing to compromise her faith. 

This is the situation men and women of faith increasingly find themselves in as a result of the left’s growing demands for “tolerance.” 

While Smith initially lost her legal challenges in the lower federal courts, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority appears likely to uphold her First Amendment rights of free speech and religious freedom.