Neil Gorsuch Remarks During Supreme Court Gay Rights Case Spark Concern

Conservative Supreme Justice Neil McGill Gorsuch accused the state of Colorado of forcing Jack Phillips—the Christian baker who in 2017 asked the court to decide whether the state's anti-discrimination law violated his freedom to exercise his faith by refusing to serve same-sex couples—to a "re-education program."

"Mr. Phillips had to go through a reeducation program, did he not?," Gorsuch asked Colorado Solicitor General Eric Olson on Monday, on the first day of the 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis case—which, as with the 2017 Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission case, puts the rights of business owners who oppose same-sex marriage against LGBTQ rights.

Olson responded that Phillips was only put through training to educate him about Colorado law, but Gorsuch said that "some would call that a reeducation program," even as the Colorado defense attorney insisted that he "strongly" disagreed.

The comment from the conservative justice raised concern from some on social media.

"It does not bode well for the future of civil rights law that Gorsuch believes a state imposes 'reeducation training' on employers when it reminds them how to comply with nondiscrimination rules," said journalist Mark Joseph Stern on Twitter.

"The fact that these justices think this is an issue to make such comments about or treat lightheartedly shows that they are crafting law around ideology," said another on the social media app.

"Sickening from a SC Justice. As tedious as these trainings are, most of us benefit from definitions and examples - to better understand when we are either crossing a line that puts ourself/employer at risk, or when we are being mistreated ourself. 'Re-education' is insulting," wrote another user.

Gorsuch, who was nominated to the court by former President Donald Trump in January 2017 and started serving in April of the same year, was part of highest court of the land when this was heard the Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission case.

In 2012, Phillips, a Christian baker running the Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, Colorado, refused to serve a same-sex couple who, after having legally married in Massachusetts, had returned home to celebrate with family and friends, on the basis of his faith. The couple filed a complaint against the baker under Colorado's anti-discrimination law—which includes gender and sexual orientation—that resulted in a lawsuit that was later decided in favor of the plaintiffs.

Phillips appealed the decision, eventually escalating the case to the Supreme Court, claiming that Colorado's anti-discrimination law violated his rights to freedom of speech and free exercise of religion under the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment.

In 2018, the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in favor of Phillips, saying that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission did not employ religious neutrality and thus violated the baker's rights to free exercise. Gorsuch was among the majority of justices in favor of reverting the Commission's initial decision on the case of the Colorado baker.

The 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis case now being heard by the Supreme Court presents a similar situation, with Colorado Christian web designer Lorie Smith claiming she has a First Amendment right to refuse to create websites for same-sex couples' weddings on the basis of her religious faith, despite the state anti-discrimination law.

The remarks Gorsuch made to the Colorado lawyer would suggest that the conservative justice is currently the most vocal judge in the court in support of Smith's claim.

But that doesn't equal a general hostility to LGBTQ rights from Gorsuch, who two years ago joined four Democratic justices and even wrote the court's majority opinion for a decision protecting the rights of gay and transgender people in the workplace.

According to the 2020 ruling, the 1964 Civil Rights Act protects gay, lesbian, and transgender employees from discrimination based on sex.