The city of Louisville, Kentucky, has agreed to pay nearly $1 million in attorneys’ fees after a federal judge sided with Christian photographer Chelsey Nelson, who claimed city officials violated her First Amendment rights.
Filed Tuesday, the settlement stipulates the city will pay $800,000 in litigation fees. Nelson’s case has been percolating in the courts for several years and centers on her claim that a local anti-discrimination ordinance would force her to photograph same-sex weddings or shutter her business.
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She told CBN News in October 2025 she is outspokenly Christian and wanted to “proactively” state on her website her biblically based views on marriage and sexuality. City authorities, she explained, told her that would not be permissible and added she could not even tell prospective clients about what ceremonies she was and was not willing to photograph.
“I became aware of this ordinance in Louisville and was really concerned that I might be under … $10,000 fines at any moment for being reported if I were just simply open about what messages I’m willing to celebrate … marriage between a man and a woman for a lifetime only and nothing outside of that,” she said.
In 2020, a federal judge ordered the city not to enforce the decades-old anti-discrimination rule, but Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg, a Democrat, appealed the decision. The case, first filed in 2019, ultimately resulted with a permanent injunction in Nelson’s favor.
While Nelson’s case was working its way through the system, another case — 303 Creative v. Elenis — was before the U.S. Supreme Court. In a 6-3 decision in 2023, the justices ruled the government cannot use “expressive activity to compel speech,” meaning authorities can’t force artists to create work that sends messages with which they disagree.
That high court decision set a binding precedent, obligating the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which was hearing the Louisville case, to send the matter back to the district court for further proceedings. Nelson’s case was already largely decided, but the Supreme Court decision solidified her legal standing because, when the Supreme Court sets a precedent, all lower courts must ensure their rulings fall in line with what the high court justices determine.
The Alliance Defending Freedom, the religious liberty law firm representing Nelson, is celebrating its client’s legal victory.
ADF Senior Counsel Bryan Neihart said Tuesday the government “cannot force Americans to say things they don’t believe.”
“For almost six years, Louisville officials tried to do just that by threatening to force Chelsey to promote views about marriage that violated her religious beliefs,” he said. “Louisville’s threats contradicted bedrock First Amendment principles, which leave decisions about what to say with the people, not the government. This settlement should teach Louisville that violating the U.S. Constitution can be expensive.”
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