An attorney who successfully argued cases for gay marriage said Friday that the Supreme Court’s First Amendment ruling was “a terrible step backward.”
The Supreme Court decided in 303 Creative v. Elenis that the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act could not compel Lorie Smith to create a website for a same-sex wedding in a 6-3 ruling written by Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch. (RELATED: ‘Free Speech Is Truly For Everyone’: Colorado Web Designer Speaks Out After SCOTUS Win)
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“It is a terrible step backward. A step backward for the community that’s directly attacked here, but also a step backward for anyone who believes this country ought to not discriminate and ought to welcome, ought to be a society that sponsors equality,” attorney David Boies told CNN host Wolf Blitzer on “The Situation Room.”
Boies was one of many liberals who criticized the ruling Friday, claiming that it gave people a “license to discriminate.”
“It’s a step that is particularly sad that comes from the United States Supreme Court which for so many, many decades has really been in the vanguard of promoting individual rights, and to take away these rights now is … I think sad for the justice system and sad for all of us who care about equality,” Boies continued.
Blitzer asked Boies if he was worried that the Supreme Court would overturn Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 case that legalized same-sex marriage in all 50 states.
“I don’t believe they will, but I didn’t believe they were going to overrule Roe v. Wade either,” Boies said. “So I think once you start down this road of narrowing a minority’s rights … you can’t tell where it’s going to end.”
Smith sued Colorado in 2016 over anti-discrimination laws which she claimed compelled her to express messages that conflicted with her religious beliefs, according to a press release from the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF).
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