Colorado has agreed to pay $1.5 million in lawyers’ fees to a Christian website designer after she won her case over a state anti-discrimination law at the U.S. Supreme Court.
The payment agreement dated Nov. 19 comes after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in June 2023 in favor of Lorie Smith, who said Colorado’s law requiring her to create websites to celebrate same-sex weddings infringed on her constitutional rights.
Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the majority that Colorado tried to compel “an individual to speak in ways that align with its views but defy her conscience about a matter of major significance.”
“The First Amendment’s protections … belong to all, including to speakers whose motives others may find misinformed or offensive,” he wrote.
Smith complained she was being singled out by the Colorado Civil Rights Commission because her religious faith does not support nontraditional marriage. Smith said she won’t promote messages that condone violence or encourage sexual immorality, abortion, or same-sex marriage.
Smith took legal action when she discovered she was forbidden under the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act to post a statement online explaining what content she was, and was not, willing to create.
After the Supreme Court reversed the ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, the case found its way back to the federal district court in Colorado.
On Nov. 19, Smith and the state filed a notice of settlement in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis with the district court.
The notice did not specify how much the state agreed to pay Smith, but the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which represents Smith, said the amount was more than $1.5 million to cover attorneys’ fees.
“The government can’t force Americans to say things they don’t believe, and Colorado officials have paid and will continue to pay a high price when they violate this foundational freedom,” ADF CEO and President Kristen Waggoner said in a statement.
“For the past 12 years, Colorado has targeted people of faith and forced them to express messages that violate their conscience and that advance the government’s preferred ideology,” she said.
The Supreme Court’s ruling in the case has been cited almost 1,000 times in court opinions, legal briefs, and in legal publications, according to the law firm.
Colorado lost a related case before the Supreme Court six years ago.
In Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission (2018), the justices sided with Jack Phillips, a Christian baker whom a gay couple had asked to create a custom cake to celebrate their union, finding the state commission had violated his First Amendment right to free exercise of religion.
Smith said she was pleased with the monetary settlement.
“This is a win not just for me but for all Americans—for those who share my beliefs and for those who hold different views,” she said in a statement.
“For me, it’s always about what message is requested, never the person making the request. I hope that everyone will celebrate the court’s decision upholding this right for each of us to speak freely,” she said.
The Epoch Times reached out for comment to Colorado Attorney General Philip Weiser but had not received a reply as of publication time.
