Supreme Court Lorie Smith Case: Free Speech at Stake

Simply because a person engages in a commercial interaction doesn’t give that person the right to compel others to say things that violate their conscience. If it does, then the First Amendment is useless.

Colorado is notorious for manipulating public-accommodation laws to coerce speech and punish thought crimes. The state’s most famous victim is Jack Phillips, the man who refused to create a specialized cake for the marriage ceremony of a same-sex couple (before gay marriage was even legalized) because of his religious objections. Phillips’s decade-long, and ongoing, struggle against the imperious bigots of the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, and their private allies, has nearly destroyed his business. But this concerted, premeditated effort has not only been intended to punish Phillips. It’s meant to dissuade other dissenters as well.

About the Author

David Harsanyi

David Harsanyi is a senior writer at the Washington Examiner.

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Simply because a person engages in a commercial interaction doesn’t give that person the right to compel others to say things that violate their conscience. If it does, then the First Amendment is useless.

Colorado is notorious for manipulating public-accommodation laws to coerce speech and punish thought crimes. The state’s most famous victim is Jack Phillips, the man who refused to create a specialized cake for the marriage ceremony of a same-sex couple (before gay marriage was even legalized) because of his religious objections. Phillips’s decade-long, and ongoing, struggle against the imperious bigots of the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, and their private allies, has nearly destroyed his business. But this concerted, premeditated effort has not only been intended to punish Phillips. It’s meant to dissuade other dissenters as well.