This Littler Lightbulb highlights some of the more significant employment law developments at the U.S. Supreme Court and federal courts of appeal in the last month.

• At the Supreme Court. On December 5, 2022, the Court heard oral argument in 303 Creative v. Elenis. Though not an employment law case, the decision may nevertheless impact employers as it pits free speech rights in the workplace against state anti-discrimination laws. At issue is whether the owner of a Colorado website design business, who opposes same-sex marriage, may post a message on the company’s website stating that she will not design websites for same-sex weddings.

303 Creative asserted that its wedding websites are “pure speech” and, therefore, entitled to Constitutional First Amendment protection. The owner of 303 Creative argued that the Public Accommodation clause of Colorado’s Anti-discrimination Act forces “her to create and promote a message she disagrees with, violating the fundamental rule ‘that a speaker has the authority to choose the content of [her] own message.”

In opposition, Colorado argued that the Public Accommodation Clause of its Anti-Discrimination Act, “does not prohibit or compel the speech of any business,” but rather “regulates sales, and not the products or services sold.”

Although the case addresses the First Amendment rights of businesses, the decision could determine the reach of state anti-discrimination laws when they potentially clash with an individual’s religious...

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