Opinion of the Court
film with a Zionist message,” they could compel “an atheist muralist to accept a commission celebrating Evangelical zeal,” and they could require a gay website designer to create websites for a group advocating against same-sex marriage, so long as these speakers would accept commissions from the public with different messages. 6 F. 4th, at 1199 (dissenting opinion). Perhaps the dissent finds these possibilities untroubling because it trusts state governments to coerce only “enlightened” speech. But if that is the calculation, it is a dangerous one indeed.[1]
The dissent is right about one thing—“[w]hat a difference” time can make. See post, at 2 (internal quotation marks omitted). Eighty years ago in Barnette, this Court affirmed that “no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion.” 319 U. S., at 642. The Court did so despite the fact that the speech rights it defended were deeply unpopular; at the time, the world was at war and many thought respect for the flag and the pledge “essential for the welfare of the state.” Id., at 662–663 (Frankfurter, J., dissenting); see also id., at 636, 640 (majority opinion). Fifty years ago, this Court protected the right of Nazis to march through a town home to many Holocaust survivors and along the way espouse ideas antithetical to those for
- ↑ Perhaps the dissent finds these possibilities untroubling for another reason. It asserts that CADA does not apply to “[m]any filmmakers, visual artists, and writers” because they do not “hold out” their services to the public. Post, at 27. But the dissent cites nothing to support its claim and instead, once more, fights the facts. As we have seen, Colorado’s law today applies to “any place of business engaged in any sales to the public.” Colo. Rev. Stat. §24–34–601(1) (emphasis added); see also Part III, supra. And the dissent can hardly dispute that many artists and writers accept commissions from the public. Brief for Creative Professionals et al. as Amici Curiae 5–21. Certainly, Colorado does not advance anything like the dissent’s argument; it calls any exemption to its law for “artists” and others who provide “custom” services “unworkable.” Brief for Respondents 28–31 (internal quotation marks omitted).
