Jail Time For Phoenix Artists Who Disagree With Government?

Graphic from Brush & Nib WebSite

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing a Phoenix art studio that specializes in hand-painting, hand-lettering, and calligraphy for weddings and other events filed suit in state court Thursday to challenge a city ordinance that forces the studio’s two young female owners to use their artistic talents to promote same-sex ceremonies. The ordinance also forbids the studio, Brush & Nib, and its proprietors from publicly expressing their Christian belief that marriage is the union of one man and one woman or explaining why they hold to that time-honored view.

“Artists shouldn’t be threatened with jail for disagreeing with the government,” said ADF Senior Counsel Jeremy Tedesco. “The government must allow artists the freedom to make personal decisions about what art they will create and what art they won’t create. Just because an artist creates expression that communicates one viewpoint doesn’t mean she is required to express all viewpoints. It’s unjust, unnecessary, and unlawful to force an artist to create against her will and intimidate her into silence.”

The lawsuit is known in legal circles as a “pre-enforcement challenge,” a lawsuit that allows citizens to challenge a law—in this case, a law that threatens First Amendment freedoms—before the government enforces it against them. Organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood routinely file such lawsuits against laws they oppose.

For example, in 1998, the ACLU filed a pre-enforcement challenge to a New Mexico law two months before it even went into effect. The law banned transmitting material harmful to minors, such as pornography, via computer. In 2013, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin filed a pre-enforcement challenge against a law on the day that the governor signed it, three days before the law went into effect and before the law had been enforced against anyone. The law required abortionists to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital.

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