Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/21-476_c185.pdf
Page Number: 19.0

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

13 

Opinion of the Court 

Piggie Park Enterprises, Inc., 390 U. S. 400 (1968) (per cu-
riam).

Over  time,  governments  in  this  country  have  expanded
public accommodations laws in notable ways too.  Statutes 
like Colorado’s grow from nondiscrimination rules the com-
mon law sometimes imposed on common carriers and places
of traditional public accommodation like hotels and restau-
rants.  Dale, 530 U. S., at 656–657.  Often, these enterprises
exercised  something  like  monopoly  power  or  hosted  or 
transported  others  or  their  belongings  much  like  bailees. 
See,  e.g.,  Liverpool  &  Great  Western  Steam  Co.  v.  Phenix 
Ins. Co., 129 U. S. 397, 437 (1889); Primrose v. Western Un-
ion Telegraph Co., 154 U. S. 1, 14 (1894).  Over time, some 
States, Colorado included, have expanded the reach of these
nondiscrimination  rules  to  cover  virtually  every  place  of
business engaged in any sales to the public.  Compare 1885
Colo. Sess. Laws pp. 132–133 (a short list of entities origi-
nally bound by the State’s public accommodations law) with 
Colo. Rev. Stat. §24–34–601(1) (currently defining a public 
accommodation  to  include  “any  place  of  business  engaged 
in any sales to the public”).

Importantly, States have also expanded their laws to pro-
hibit more forms of discrimination.  Today, for example, ap-
proximately half the States have laws like Colorado’s that
expressly prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual ori-
entation.2  And, as we have recognized, this is entirely “un-
exceptional.”  Masterpiece Cakeshop, 584 U. S., at ___ (slip 
—————— 

2 Besides Colorado, this includes Cal. Civ. Code Ann. §51 (West 2020);
Conn. Gen. Stat. §46a–81d (2021); Del. Code Ann., Tit. 6, §4504 (2019);
Haw.  Rev.  Stat.  §489–3  (Cum.  Supp.  2021);  Ill.  Comp.  Stat.,  ch.  775,
§5/1–102  (West  2021);  Iowa  Code  §216.7  (2022);  Me.  Rev.  Stat.  Ann., 
Tit. 5, §4591 (2013); Md. State Govt. Code Ann. §20–304 (2021); Mass. 
Gen. Laws, ch. 272, §98 (2021); Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. §37.2302 (West 
2013); Minn. Stat. §363A.11 (2022); Nev. Rev. Stat. §651.070 (2017); N. 
H.  Rev.  Stat.  Ann.  §354–A:17  (2022);  N.  J.  Stat.  Ann.  §10:5–12  (West 
2013);  N. M.  Stat.  Ann.  §28–1–7  (2022);  N.  Y.  Exec.  Law  Ann.  §291(2)