Supreme Court will hear case of Colorado baker who refused to make wedding cake for same-sex couple [View all]

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Los Angeles Times

David G. Savage
[e-mail]

June 26, 2017, 6:30 AM Reporting from Washington

Supreme Court justices voted to hear an appeal from the owner of a Colorado bakery who refused to create and design a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. ... The high court has agreed to hear a major case pitting conservative Christian beliefs against gay rights, and decide whether some business owners may cite their religious views as a reason for refusing to serve same-sex couples.

The justices voted to hear an appeal from the owner of a Colorado bakery who refused to create and design a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. ... The case will be heard in the fall, and it could have a wide impact in the states that prohibit discrimination against people based on their sexual orientation.
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Jack Phillips, the owner of the Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, Colo., was charged with violating the states anti-discrimination law, which says businesses open to the public may not deny service to customers based on their race, religion, sex or sexual orientation. ... The state commission held that his refusal to make the wedding cake amounted to discriminatory conduct, and the state courts upheld that decision.

But Phillips appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing he deserved a religious exemption based on the 1st Amendments guarantee of freedom of speech and free exercise of religion. His lawyers described him as a cake artist who will not create cakes celebrating any marriage that is contrary to his understanding of biblical teaching. They also said he has refused to make cakes to celebrate Halloween or created baked goods that have an anti-American or anti-family themes or carry profane messages.
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On Twitter: DavidGSavage

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-court-gays-religion-20170626-story.html

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Huge shoutout to SCOTUSblog, who had the story first. I will add a reply with updated information.

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Hat tip, DonViejo: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/26/supreme-court-agrees-to-take-up-colorado-gay-wedding-case-239952

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Full disclosure: I started the thread with a link to ThinkProgress. I consider that an opinion site, not a news organization. Here is the original OP:

BREAKING: Supreme Court to decide if religion is a license to discriminate

https://thinkprogress.org/breaking-supreme-court-to-decide-if-religion-is-a-license-to-discriminate-40a8e93d3ced

Gorsuch doesnt appear to be wasting any time.

Ian Millhiser
Justice Editor, ThinkProgress. Author of Injustices: SCOTUS History of Comforting the Comfortable and Afflicting the Afflicted [e-mail]
Jun 26

The Court announced on Monday that it will hear a suit brought by a baker who refused to bake a wedding cake for a couple because the couple is gay, giving the newly Gorsuched Court an opportunity to expand religious conservatives ability to violate civil rights laws.

The bakery at the heart of the dispute in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission (1) claims it has a constitutional right to defy Colorado's anti-discrimination law (2) because its owner, in the words of a lower court that heard this case, believes that he would displease God by creating cakes for same-sex marriages.

The bakery claims both that its owners religious belief gives it a special right to defy the law, and that requiring the bakery to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding amounts to a form of compelled speech prohibited by the First Amendment. Neither of these arguments holds water under longstanding legal doctrines.

(1) http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/masterpiece-cakeshop-ltd-v-colorado-civil-rights-commn/

(2) http://www.scotusblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/16-111-op-bel-colo-app.pdf

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SCOTUSblog: Live blog of opinions June 26, 2017

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029254556

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SCOTUS will review right of private parties to deny services to same-sex couples, particularly in industries involving expression.

Link to tweet