The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a Florida photographer who was arrested for violating a local law against “sweet me” photography would be allowed to sell her images to her customers.
In a 6-3 decision, the justices ruled that “sweet” could be defined as anything that is “sweet.”
The justices also ruled that there is no requirement for an individual photographer to make her images “sweet,” but said that a photographer who wants to sell an image must show it to customers.
“There is no specific provision in the Constitution to require that photographers make their images sweet,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in her dissent.
“It is the judgment of the court that sweetness in art is not an inherently desirable quality.”
In other words, the court decided that images of people being sweet and not being sweet, such as the ones created by artist Rebecca Leff, were not subject to the same scrutiny as works created by people who are not sweet.
The ruling by the justices also means that the law against sweet me photography will no longer be in place in Florida.