Supreme Court Rules In Favor Of Colorado Baker

[Angrboda]

Statements made at the Commission’s public hearings on Phillips’ case provide no firmer support for the Court’s holding today. Whatever one may think of the statements in historical context, I see no reason why the comments of one or two Commissioners should be taken to overcome Phillips’ refusal to sell a wedding cake to Craig and Mullins. The proceedings involved several layers of independent decisionmaking, of which the Commission was but one. See App. to Pet. for Cert. 5a–6a. First, the Division had to find probable cause that Phillips violated CADA. Second, the ALJ entertained the parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment. Third, the Commission heard Phillips’ appeal. Fourth, after the Commission’s ruling, the Colorado Court of Appeals considered the case de novo. What prejudice infected the determinations of the adjudicators in the case before and after the Commission? The Court does not say. Phillips’ case is thus far removed from the only precedent upon which the Court relies, Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. Hialeah, 508 U. S. 520 (1993), where the government action that violated a principle of religious neutrality implicated a sole decisionmaking body, the city council, see id., at 526–528.

Justice Ginsberg, dissenting, Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission

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Jack visited two other Denver bakeries that he’d identified from LGBT websites as gay-friendly and made similar requests. He refused to tell the bakers why, exactly, he wanted the cakes or what he was planning to celebrate with them. The other bakeries, which like Azucar regularly made religious cakes, also declined to fill Jack’s order on the grounds that his messages were offensive and hateful. Shortly after the visits, Jack filed a complaint against the three bakeries with the Colorado Civil Rights Division—which ruled in favor of the same-sex couple in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case—alleging that they had discriminated against him because he is a Christian. ... Jack did not respond to a call seeking comment, but he has published a series of videos to YouTube detailing his “undercover” operation against the bakeries, titled “Would Jesus Bake This Cake?”
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Despite the criticism from Kagan and Ginsburg, Jack’s cases will have a long shelf life. Because the Masterpiece Cakeshop ruling was so narrow, it didn’t put an end to the legal battles over when the religious freedom rights of a business owner can trump the civil rights of LGBT people. Alliance Defending Freedom and other Christian legal outfits are representing a host of other plaintiffs, from florists to videographers, who are suing for the right not to serve LGBT people. Jack’s work has found its way into one of those, too.

Did the Supreme Court Fall for a Stunt?