A couple’s engagement qualifies as the type of “intimate association” protected by the First Amendment under U.S. Supreme Court case law, a federal appeals court ruled Monday.

A divided U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit made new law by interpreting the U.S. Supreme Court decision of Roberts v. United States Jaycees, 468 U.S. 609 (1984), to recognize an “intimate association right in betrothal.”