Supreme Court Sanctions Discrimination in Appalling Decision Says NCJW

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled today to allow 303 Creative, a Colorado website business, to refuse service to same-sex couples, justifying outright discrimination against a particular group of customers. Jody Rabhan, National Council of Jewish Women chief policy officer, released the following statement:

“In today’s appalling decision, the Supreme Court sanctioned discrimination against LGBTQ+ people by allowing a business open to the public to refuse service to same-sex couples in violation of the state of Colorado’s anti-discrimination law.

“As Justice Sotomayor said in her dissent, ‘Today, the Court, for the first time in its history, grants a business open to the public a constitutional right to refuse to serve members of a protected class.’ This decision flies in the face of long-standing civil rights law that everyone deserves to be able to access services, using the First Amendment’s freedom of expression to justify outright discrimination against a particular group of customers. The Colorado law makes this clear; any business that provides services or products to the general public may not deny service to some people based on their identity. It is worth noting that this case was deliberately concocted to achieve this troubling result — 303 Creative, the website company challenging the Colorado law, had never created a wedding website nor was that service solicited by any same-sex couple or any other couples.

National Council of Jewish Women strongly condemns this decision which once again shows the Supreme Court’s antipathy toward LGBTQ+ individuals and civil rights overall. Our 210,000 advocates will continue to work for laws and public policy that treat LGBTQ+ people with dignity and respect and end discrimination against all people, as well as advocate for judges and justices who understand that equal justice means equal justice for all.”