In a recent Supreme Court ruling, Justice Neil Gorsuch came under fire from his liberal colleague, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, for allegedly relegating LGBT individuals to “second-class status.” Gorsuch insisted everyone’s first amendment rights were equal.
The case in question, 303 Creative v. Elenis, dealt with a Colorado web designer, Lorie Smith, who refused to include certain messages on websites for same-sex couples based on her sincere Christian beliefs.
Gorsuch, writing the 6-3 majority opinion, firmly rebuked Sotomayor’s dissent, highlighting what he believed to be distortions of the case’s facts.
According to Sotomayor, the majority’s decision granted a “new license to discriminate” and marginalized the LGBT community. She argued that the ruling had the immediate effect of branding gays and lesbians as second-class citizens.
However, Gorsuch vehemently disagreed, asserting that Sotomayor had mischaracterized the nature of the case and had gone so far as to contradict her own position. He added that it “reimagines the facts of this case from top to bottom.”
