Supreme Court Dismisses Photographer’s Case Over Refusal to Photograph Same-Sex Wedding

Without issuing any comment, the Supreme Court today dismissed a filing made by a photographer who wassued after refusing the services.

You may have heard of the case, New Mexico-based Elane Photography had refused, on religious grounds, to provide photographic services for a same-sex wedding.  The "mom-and-pop" company had claimed their First Amendment Rights allowed them to refuse because in doing so, they would be "creating images expressing messages about marriage that conflicted with their religious beliefs." (quote from their court filing).

It is not known if or what views the Supreme Court might have had because they dismissed the case (refused to hear it) without any comment.

This case stemmed back from 2008, when Elane Photography was accused of discrimination by the State of New Mexico and felt the company should have to pay thousands of dollars in attorneys fees.  This situation is not unlike the current Arlene's Flowers case being battled between Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson, the ACLU, and Arlene's attorneys.

It's reasonable to assume a lot of lawyers across the country who are representing businesses in similar situations will be watching to see what happens next.  This could potentially be a precedent-setting case concerning religious freedoms and how far First Amendment Rights go.