Federal Circuit Court sides with Elmira photographer who refuses to photograph same-sex weddings

ELMIRA, N.Y. ( WETM ) — The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has sided with an Elmira photographer who refuses to photograph same-sex couples after her lawsuit against the New York State Attorney General’s Office claimed First Amendment violations.

According to court documents, photographer, Emilee Carpenter’s lawsuit claims that New York’s anti-discrimination laws violated her right to refuse to photograph same-sex marriages and that New York’s public accommodation laws violate her First Amendment right to free exercise of religion.

Carpenter’s lawsuit was initially dismissed by a New York Judge back in December 2021, before that decision was appealed by Carpenter’s team in January 2022. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals first saw the case on September 28, 2022, and decided on July 12, 2024, in favor of Carpenter.

According to a member of Carpenter’s legal team, Jonathan Scruggs, vice president of litigation strategy at Alliance Defending Freedom, the Second Circuit Court confirmed that Carpenter’s team’s legal theory was right.

“The Second Circuit confirmed that our legal theory is right, that the legal principles that we articulated, the First Amendment does not allow New York to force people to speak messages they disagree with,” Scruggs said. “That’s true whether it be someone like Ms. Carpenter, someone of her views, or someone with different views,” Scruggs said.

Scruggs said that the case goes back down to a lower court where the facts will be presented, and said that this is inevitable for Ms. Carpenter to win her case.

“If those facts turn out to be true, as they are, that Ms. Carpenter is a photographer that she makes all these artistic judgments all the time, then she’s going to win her case,” Scruggs said. “So, we view this as really inevitable because the law now is clear, once we show the facts, and we will, New York will be stopped from applying its law to Ms. Carpenter,” he said.

Scruggs added that this case flows naturally from a similar case that the Supreme Court decided on out of Colorado in 2023 titled 303 Creative where a website designer refused to make wedding websites for LGBT couples, and said a state discrimination law violated her First Amendment rights.

According to the Associated Press, the decision from 303 Creative states that photographers, videographers, and writers are among those who can refuse to offer expressive services if they would run contrary to their beliefs. This differs from businesses not engaged in speech, and therefore not covered by the First Amendment, such as a restaurant or a hotel.

Scruggs said that the principles set in the 303 Creative case by the Supreme Court apply to the case of a photographer like Carpenter.

Scruggs said that Carpenter has been able to operate her business over the years that the case has been on hold, but mentioned that the fear of jail time and fines have been looming over her and has been one of the reasons she’s continued to fight this case.

“One thing is just she can operate her business without the fear of going to jail, the law imposes jail times, really high penalties that no one should be forced to live under that type of threat when you just wish to exercise your constitutional rights,” Scruggs said.

Scruggs added that Ms. Carpenter wants to stand up for others, saying that if New York can do this on one view, it can do it on a lot of other views that people have.

“That’s all she’s asking for is essentially the right and equal treatment under the law,” Scruggs said.

There is no timetable as to when the case will be seen in court again, but Scruggs said that they expect something within the coming months.

18 News has reached out to the Attorney General’s Office for comment on the decision from the Second Circuit Court but has not heard back at the publishing of this article.

The entire court document can be found below.

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