Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/21-476_c185.pdf
Page Number: 9

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

3 

Opinion of the Court 

district court.  In that suit, she sought an injunction to pre-
vent the State from forcing her to create wedding websites
celebrating marriages that defy her beliefs.  App. 303–305.
To secure relief, Ms. Smith first had to establish her stand-
ing  to  sue.   That  required  her  to  show  “a  credible  threat” 
existed that Colorado would, in fact, seek to compel speech 
from her that she did not wish to produce.  Susan B. An-
thony List v. Driehaus, 573 U. S. 149, 159 (2014). 

Toward that end, Ms. Smith began by directing the court
to the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA).  That law 
defines a “public accommodation” broadly to include almost
every public-facing business in the State.  Colo. Rev. Stat. 
§24–34–601(1) (2022).  In what some call its “Accommoda-
tion  Clause,”  the  law  prohibits  a  public  accommodation 
from denying “the full and equal enjoyment” of its goods and 
services to any customer based on his race, creed, disability, 
sexual  orientation,  or  other  statutorily  enumerated  trait. 
§24–34–601(2)(a).  Either state officials or private citizens
may bring actions to enforce the law.  §§24–34–306, 24–34– 
602(1).  And a variety of penalties can follow.  Courts can 
order fines up to $500 per violation.  §24–34–602(1)(a).  The 
Colorado Commission on Civil Rights can issue cease-and-
desist orders, §24–34–306(9), and require violators to take
various other “affirmative action[s].”  §24–34–605; §24–34– 
306(9).  In  the  past,  these  have  included  participation  in
mandatory educational programs and the submission of on-
going compliance reports to state officials.  See Masterpiece 
Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Comm’n, 584 U. S. 
___, ___ (2018) (slip op., at 8).1 

—————— 

1 In  addition  to  the  Accommodation  Clause,  CADA  contains  a  “Com-
munication  Clause”  that  prohibits  a  public  accommodation  from  “pub-
lish[ing] . . . any written . . . communication” indicating that a person will
be  denied  “the  full  and  equal  enjoyment”  of  services  or  that  he  will  be 
“unwelcome, objectionable, unacceptable, or undesirable” based on a pro-