Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/21-476_c185.pdf
Page Number: 39

Cite as:  600 U. S. ____ (2023) 

7 

SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting 

such  as  the  federal  Civil  Rights  Act,  list  establishments 
that qualify, but these establishments are ones open to the
public  generally.  See,  e.g.,  42  U. S. C.  §2000a(b)  (hotels, 
restaurants,  gas  stations,  movie  theaters,  concert  halls,
sports  arenas,  stadiums).    A  public  accommodations  law 
does not force anyone to start a business, or to hold out the 
business’s goods or services to the public at large.  The law 
also  does  not  compel  any  business  to  sell  any  particular
good or service.  But if a business chooses to profit from the 
public market, which is established and maintained by the 
state, the state may require the business to abide by a legal
norm of nondiscrimination.  In particular, the state may en-
sure that groups historically marked for second-class status
are not denied goods or services on equal terms.

The concept of a public accommodation thus embodies a 
simple,  but  powerful,  social  contract:  A  business  that 
chooses  to  sell  to  the  public  assumes  a  duty  to  serve  the 
public without unjust discrimination.  J. Singer, No Right 
To Exclude: Public Accommodations and Private Property, 
90 Nw. U. L. Rev. 1283, 1298 (1996) (Singer). 

B 

The legal duty of a business open to the public to serve 
the public without unjust discrimination is deeply rooted in
our history.  The true power of this principle, however, lies 
in  its  capacity  to  evolve,  as  society  comes  to  understand
more forms of unjust discrimination and, hence, to include
more persons as full and equal members of “the public.” 

1 
“At  common  law,  innkeepers,  smiths,  and  others  who
‘made profession of a public employment,’ were prohibited 
from  refusing,  without  good  reason,  to  serve  a  customer.” 
Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Group 
of Boston, Inc., 515 U. S. 557, 571 (1995) (quoting Lane v. 
Cotton,  12  Mod.  472,  485,  88  Eng.  Rep.  1458,  1465  (K. B.