The Supreme Court on Friday ruled in favor of a graphic artist from Colorado who does not want to create wedding websites for same-sex couples due to her religious beliefs as a Christian. In return, the decision resulted in the high court sending another case back to a lower court for further review.
The case that was ordered to be reviewed, Klein v. Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries, shares similarities with the graphic artist case, 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis. In 2013, a lesbian couple filed a complaint against bakery owners Melissa and Aaron Klein for refusing service to them. The Oregon Court of Appeals issued a $135,000 fine against the Kleins after it was ruled that they had discriminated against the same-sex couple.
A 2018 ruling in another Supreme Court case involving a bakery that declined to work with a same-sex couple on religious grounds—Masterpiece Cakeshop in Colorado—resulted in the Klein case being reexamined. The Kleins' fine was eventually reduced to $30,000, but they appealed again. Now, their fine could potentially be fully removed altogether after the Supreme Court granted a petition for a writ of certiorari for their case on Friday.
In a list of orders, the Court said the Klein case is now remanded to the Court of Appeals of Oregon "for further consideration in light of 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis."
"The Supreme Court's 303 ruling and grant of certiorari means the justices will likely reverse the Klein decision," Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor and president of West Coast Trial Lawyers, told Newsweek on Friday.
Rahmani discussed some differences between the Klein case and the 2018 decision in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission.
"When Klein first appealed to the Supreme Court, the justices sent the case back to the lower court in light of the Masterpiece baker decision," Rahmani said. "Masterpiece was decided on narrow grounds, though, because the state of Colorado Civil Rights Commission decision was hostile to the baker. The option was authored by Justice [Anthony] Kennedy, who was a proponent of LQBTQ+ rights, and didn't address the broader question of refusal to serve members of the community."
He continued: "Justice Kennedy is no longer there, of course, and the newly constituted Supreme Court believes the First Amendment protects individuals from creating speech they do not believe in. I expect the high court to strike down Colorado's law as it applies to Klein and her husband on free speech grounds, and rule that no monetary fine is constitutional."
Newsweek reached out to an attorney representing the Kleins for comment via email.
