Colorado to pay Christian graphic artist $1.5 million in legal fees for Supreme Court gay rights case

Updated at 9:50 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024

A Christian graphic artist who won a national freedom of speech case tied to her refusal to create websites for same-sex weddings will get a $1.5 million payout from the state of Colorado to cover her legal fees.

The U.S. Supreme Court in June 2023 ruled that the state of Colorado can’t apply its Anti-Discrimination Act to force Lorie Smith and her company 303 Creative “to speak in ways that … defy her conscience.” 

The ruling ultimately defeated Colorado’s public accommodations laws aiming to ban discrimination against customers based on sexual orientation. Smith’s lawyers at the faith-based legal advocacy organization Alliance Defending Freedom are awaiting the final settlement payout, which they expect to come this month.

The total payout is less than Smith originally asked for after the legal victory. Smith's attorneys cited the long, complex and ground-breaking nature of the case as the reason for requesting $1,969,981 from the state. Her lawyers said the amount would reimburse them for about 2,174 hours of legal work on the case, which visited the 10th Circuit twice before the win.

In a statement emailed on Tuesday, Senior Counsel, Bryan Neihart, with the Alliance Defending Freedom said, “It is common in civil rights cases for the prevailing party to recover attorneys’ fees and costs. Our clients Lorie Smith and her design studio, 303 Creative, prevailed at the US Supreme Court and achieved a landmark victory—a victory that helps to protect all Americans’ freedom of speech from government censorship and coercion.”

The Colorado Attorney General’s Office declined to comment on the settlement details.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to remove language that implied Alliance Defending Freedom publicized the settlement details. The information came from publicly available court documents filed by the organization.