Liberty students attend rally outside of Supreme Court as Colorado First Amendment case gets underway

On the first day of oral arguments in a Supreme Court case involving free speech, 30 Liberty University students traveled to Washington, D.C., on Monday with the Standing for Freedom Center to attend a rally on the steps of the court and discuss the issues and implications of the case’s potential outcomes. The rally was organized by Alliance Defending Freedom, an American conservative Christian legal advocacy group.

The case, 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, involves a Colorado web designer, Lorie Smith, who wanted to post a message on her business site about marriages involving a man and woman, but she found that doing so would violate the state’s anti-discrimination law. Smith is now suing the state of Colorado with the belief that, according to the First Amendment, it has no authority to tell artists what they can or cannot say. Her issue is being compared to the 2017 case of cakeshop owner Jack Phillips, who refused to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple.

Arriving at the Supreme Court around 8 a.m., students heard from more than 30 speakers throughout the rally, which spanned the length of the oral arguments inside the courtroom. Speakers at the rally included Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, U.S. Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), former Department of Health and Human Services Director Roger Severino, Concerned Women for America (CWFA) President Penny Nance, Jack Phillips, and Ryan Helfenbein, executive director of the Standing for Freedom Center.

After the trial recessed for the day, Smith and her lawyer joined the crowd to debrief what had occurred in the courtroom.

Junior Anna McKinney, who is getting an interdisciplinary degree in graphic design, strategic communication, and entrepreneurship, said that Monday was an opportunity to stand in unison with her peers in support of their beliefs, even when it was in the midst of others who disagreed.

“We were rallying around that idea that one should have the choice to create freely, opposing the compulsion to make artwork that goes against one’s conscience or conviction,” McKinney said. “My friends and I discovered the importance of prayer in the midst of the chaos. We can stand up, represent, encourage, and support the ideas that we believe in, and we must continue to do so. But until Jesus infiltrates hearts and lives, politics remains a complex game of Whack-A-Mole with no end in sight.”

The group from Liberty then attended a lunch and panel discussion at the Heritage Foundation, where three attorneys who were in the courtroom that morning spoke about the case. The attorneys explained the history of the case and its legal implications as it relates to future issues of a similar kind.

Many of the students who participated in the day trip were studying in the Helms School of Government.

“The Standing for Freedom Center at Liberty University has provided amazing ways to get involved and connected with a network of students who believe the same things that I do,” McKinney said. “Whether someone is called to Congress or the classroom, I believe that we are stronger together. We must continue to speak for those who cannot speak, and show support when others are afraid to.”

Liberty has sent students on multiple trips to the nation’s capital in recent years, including during the opening arguments of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in December 2021 and the Washington Prayer March, organized by the Billy Graham Evangelical Association, in September 2020.