In the recent 303 Creative case decision released by the Supreme Court, the justices banned the state of Colorado from picking and choosing its own leftist ideology and requiring business owners from state that as their own.
The result, the second time in a row that the state of Colorado has been caught, and scolded, for its “hostility” to Christianity, now should be applied to other similar cases, according to ADF.
In 303 Creative, the justices said the right to free speech means Colorado’s leftist governor, Jared Polis, and the state Democrat machine there, could not require Lorie Smith, a web designer, to promote same-sex weddings with her website business.
Earlier, the justice blasted Colorado for its actual “hostility” to Christian baker Jack Phillips in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case. That followed one state official actually likening Christians to Nazis.
Now the ADF, which fought at the high court on behalf of Jack Phillips and Lorie Smith, is recommending that appeals courts use the new precedent to end other cases being pursued against Christians.
The organization reports, “In the first case, Chelsey Nelson Photography v. Louisville-Jefferson County Metro Government, ADF attorneys filed a supplemental brief Thursday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit asking it to affirm a lower court order that blocked a Louisville law from forcing photographer and blogger Chelsey Nelson to communicate messages that contradict her beliefs.
“In the second case, Emilee Carpenter Photography v. James, ADF attorneys filed a supplemental letter brief Friday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit asking it to allow Emilee Carpenter, a New York photographer and blogger, to create messages consistent with her faith.”
Those rulings, if released by the appeals judges, would align with the Supreme Court ruling.
“Free speech is for everyone. As the Supreme Court recently reaffirmed in 303 Creative, the government can’t force Americans to say things they don’t believe,” said ADF lawyer Bryan Neihart. “That ruling makes clear that nondiscrimination laws like Louisville’s can remain firmly in place, but the government cannot misuse those laws to compel speech. The U.S. Constitution ensures Lorie Smith, Chelsey Nelson, Emilee Carpenter—and indeed, every American—can speak consistent with her convictions.
“Now we urge the 6th Circuit and 2nd Circuit to uphold this freedom and follow Supreme Court precedent so that Chelsey and Emilee can speak freely without being threatened by the government with steep fines and penalties.”
Nelson and Carpenter, like Smith and Phillips, confirm that they serve everyone and anyone, including clients who identify as LGBT.
But they limit the messages they express to ones they support.
In Nelson’s case, the city of Louisville threatened her and tried to force her to create messages about marriage she does not believe. A district court judge rejected the city’s contentions, but the city appeal to tried to impose its censorship plan.
“In Carpenter’s case, ADF attorneys are asking the 2nd Circuit to uphold the photographer’s First Amendment rights and reverse a district court’s ruling that concluded the state of New York and a local district attorney can force her to create photographs and blogs inconsistent with her beliefs. New York’s laws threaten Carpenter with fines of up to $100,000, a revoked business license, and up to a year in jail,” the report said.
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Independent Journalism Is Dying
Ever since President Trump’s miraculous victory, we’ve heard an incessant drumbeat about how legacy media is dying. This is true. The people have awakened to the reality that they’re being lied to by the self-proclaimed “Arbiters of Truth” for the sake of political expediency, corporate self-protection, and globalist ambitions.
But even as independent journalism rises to fill the void left by legacy media, there is still a huge challenge. Those at the top of independent media like Joe Rogan, Dan Bongino, and Tucker Carlson are thriving and rightly so. They have earned their audience and the financial rewards that come from it. They’ve taken risks and worked hard to get to where they are.
For “the rest of us,” legacy media and their proxies are making it exceptionally difficult to survive, let alone thrive. They still have a stranglehold over the “fact checkers” who have a dramatic impact on readership and viewership. YouTube, Facebook, and Google still stifle us. The freer speech platforms like Rumble and 𝕏 can only reward so many of their popular content creators. For independent journalists on the outside looking in, our only recourse is to rely on affiliates and sponsors.
But even as it seems nearly impossible to make a living, there are blessings that should not be disregarded. By highlighting strong sponsors who share our America First worldview, we have been able to make lifelong connections and even a bit of revenue to help us along. This is why we enjoy symbiotic relationships with companies like MyPillow, Jase Medical, and Promised Grounds. We help them with our recommendations and they reward us with money when our audience buys from them.
The same can be said about our preparedness sponsor, Prepper All-Naturals. Their long-term storage beef has a 25-year shelf life and is made with one ingredient: All-American Beef.
Even our faith-driven precious metals sponsor helps us tremendously while also helping Americans protect their life’s savings. We are blessed to work with them.
Independent media is the future. In many ways, that future is already here. While the phrase, “the more the merrier,” does not apply to this business because there are still some bad actors in the independent media field, there are many great ones that do not get nearly enough attention. We hope to change that one content creator at a time.
Thank you and God Bless,
JD Rucker
