Kramer Levin files Washington Supreme Court Amicus Brief on Behalf of Mainstream Religious Leaders and Groups Opposing Florist Who Refused to Sell Flowers for Same-Sex Wedding

Kramer Levin has filed an amicus brief on behalf of major religious organizations and individual faith leaders—including the Episcopal Bishops of the Dioceses of Spokane and Olympia, the Pacific Northwest Conference of the United Church of Christ, and the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)—in a case now pending before the Washington State Supreme Court addressing the claimed constitutional right of a florist to refuse to sell flowers for a same-sex wedding based on the florist’s personal religious beliefs.

The Kramer Levin brief was filed in State of Washington v. Arlene’s Flowers Inc., a case that was remanded by the U.S. Supreme Court for further consideration in light of Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. 

The brief opposes arguments by the flower shop and its owner that enforcing Washington’s anti-discrimination law impinges upon religious liberty. Contrary to the suggestion that civil rights protections for LGBT persons conflict with religious belief and practice, the brief documents a growing number of mainstream faiths that affirm same-sex couples’ relationships and support the even-handed enforcement of anti-discrimination protections for LGBT people. The brief also cautions that broad exemptions to anti-discrimination laws, like the exemption sought by the florist, admit of no coherent limiting principle and thus “open the door to wholesale evisceration of civil rights enforcement.” Ultimately, the brief argues that, given “America’s rich and diverse religious landscape ... the best way to ensure that all people retain the First Amendment right to speak, preach, pray, and practice their religious beliefs is to prevent discrimination in the marketplace regardless of its basis.”

The brief echoes themes in similar briefs filed by Kramer Levin in a string of marriage equality and LGBT rights cases, including United States v. Windsor (2013), in which the Supreme Court struck down part of the Defense of Marriage Act, Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), which recognized same-sex couples’ constitutional right to marry, and Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Rights Commission (2018), which was decided on narrow grounds but affirmed that business owners cannot deny LGBT persons equal access to goods and services under neutral and generally applicable public accommodations laws.

The Kramer Levin team that drafted the brief includes Litigation partners Jeffrey S. Trachtman and Norman C. Simon and special counsel Tobias B. Jacoby and Jason M. Moff, with assistance from associates Elise Funke and Allison W. Parr.

Kramer Levin has played a leading role in pro bono LGBT rights litigation for nearly two decades. The firm previously submitted amicus briefs in Boy Scouts v. Dale and Lawrence v. Texas, two landmark LGBT rights cases before the Supreme Court; the 2013 and 2015 marriage cases; and several intervening and subsequent cases in state and federal court addressing marriage equality and LGBT rights. The firm also served as co-counsel in Hernandez v. Robles, which sought equal marriage rights under the New York constitution.

Read the complete brief here.