On June 25, 2018, the United States Supreme Court handed a victory to Washington state floral designer Barronelle Stutzman, who appealed to the United States Supreme Court from a decision of the Washington Supreme Court that undermined her First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and the free exercise of religion.

The Thomas More Society, which filed an amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) brief in support of Stutzman, applauds the high court’s decision. The order entered in Arlene’s Flowers v. State of Washington and Arlene’s Flowers v. Ingersoll granted Stutzman’s petition which asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review her case. The order also wiped out the Washington Supreme Court’s judgment against Stutzman and sent the case back to the Washington Supreme Court with instructions to reconsider the case in light of the United States Supreme Court’s recent decision in favor of Jack Phillips and Masterpiece Cakeshop in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. The Washington Supreme Court had previously ruled that the government could force Stutzman to create artistic expression in the form of floral custom wedding arrangements and participate in events that conflict with her faith.

“We are pleased that the high court has reaffirmed the importance of governmental respect for the religious freedom of Barronelle Stutzman, consistent with its recent decision in favor of Jack Phillips,” declared Joan Mannix, Thomas More Society Special Counsel. “The proceedings in the courts of Washington were tainted with the same kind of intolerance and disrespect for the constitutionally protected free exercise of religion as those that occurred in Colorado involving Jack Phillips and Masterpiece Cakeshop.”

The order honors the rights to free expression and free exercise of religion of the florist whose faith does not condone same-sex marriage. Stutzman, floral artist and owner of Arlene’s Flowers in Richland, Washington, was sued by the State of Washington because she declined a request to create custom floral arrangements for the celebration of her customer’s marriage to another man because to do so would violate her sincerely held religious beliefs.

The Thomas More Society brief in support of Stutzman’s petition for review by the high court followed a punitive Washington State Supreme Court decision against the committed Christian. In 2015, the trial court found that Stutzman violated the Washington Law Against Discrimination and the Washington Consumer Protection Act. She was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine, actual damages in an undetermined amount, and attorneys’ fees and costs reportedly totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars. She was also prevented from operating her business according to her beliefs without risking further legal sanction.

In the United States Supreme Court’s recent decision in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case, the high court reversed a similar punishment entered by the State of Colorado against bakery artist Jack Phillips for refusing to design a custom wedding cake celebrating the marriage of two men.

The Thomas More Society’s brief in support of the 73-year-old Stutzman focused on the fact that the United States Supreme Court and the United States Courts of Appeals have consistently recognized that the First Amendment affords expansive protection to all forms of artistic expression, including nonverbal art forms which include painting, music, and dance.

“The high court has always supported the idea that an artist's self-expression is protected,” stated Mannix. “Barronelle Stutzman’s custom floral arrangements are designed to deliver an expressive message, consistent with the personalities of the couple, approving of and celebrating their marriage, and are therefore entitled to First Amendment protection. The high court’s decision in favor of this small-town florist reaffirms the high court’s commitment to the protection of First Amendment freedoms including the freedom of speech and the free exercise of religion.”