Emilee Carpenter, LLC v. James, 107 F.4th 92 (2024)

In the case Emilee Carpenter LLC v. James, a professional photographer, Emilee Carpenter, challenged New York’s public-accommodations statutes (under the Human Rights Law and Civil Rights Law) after indicating that she would refuse to provide wedding-photography services for same-sex couples due to her religious and personal beliefs about marriage. She filed a pre-enforcement suit against state and county officials under the First and Fourteenth Amendments, seeking a preliminary injunction against enforcement of state laws prohibiting service refusal on the basis of sexual orientation. The district court dismissed all of her claims, finding no plausible violation of free speech, free exercise, free association, Establishment Clause, vagueness or overbreadth. On appeal, the Second Circuit affirmed the dismissal of her claims under free exercise, free association, Establishment Clause, vagueness and overbreadth. However, in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, 600 U.S. 570 (2023), the Court held that Carpenter had pleaded a plausible free-speech claim because her wedding-photography business might constitute expressive conduct; thereby triggering the question whether the public-accommodations law would unlawfully compel her speech. The Court declined to grant injunctive relief at this stage and instead remanded the case back to the district court to develop the factual record on whether her services are “expressive” and whether the law compels her specific speech.