The Supreme Court has issued a verdict on amuch-buzzed-about case.
On Monday, the nation’s highest court issued a verdict onMasterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, ruling in favor of a bakery owner who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. The verdict was a 7-2 decision, with Justice Anthony Kennedy writing for the majority opinion.
“The Colorado Civil Rights Commission’s consideration of this case was inconsistent with the state’s obligation of religious neutrality,” he wrote. “The reason and motive for the baker’s refusal were based on his sincere religious beliefs and convictions.”
It’s a decision that’s been more than five years in the making, revolving around a 2012 incident in which Jack Phillips, the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, Colorado, declined to bake a cake for David Mullins and Charlie Craig. Phillips offered the couple other baked goods, but refused to make them one of his signature custom cakes for the occasion, citing his religious belief that marriage is between a man and a woman.
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The pair filed charges with the Civil Rights Commission in Colorado, which is one of the minority of states that includes sexual orientation along with race, gender and religion in its anti-discrimination laws. After the Commission ordered him to treat heterosexual and homosexual couples equally, Phillips stopped making wedding cakes altogether, and claimed he lost around 40% of his business in doing so.
Phillips then took his case to the Supreme Court, arguing that forcing him to cater to same-sex weddings was a violation of his First Amendment right to free speech. Though many gay and civil rights activists worry of the broader implications the verdict could have on a business’s ability to discriminate against customers for their sexual orientation, the American Civil Liberties Union (who represented the couple in court) says it is confident this decision is confined to this particular case.
On Twitter, they added: “Colorado law prohibits discrimination based on who you are. We’re confident the courts will once again rule that businesses don’t have a right to discriminate.”
In December, the Trump administration sided with Phillips, filing a brief on his behalf. “A custom wedding cake is not an ordinary baked good; its function is more communicative and artistic than utilitarian,” wrote Solicitor General Noel Francisco. “Accordingly, the government may not enact content-based laws commanding a speaker to engage in protected expression: An artist cannot be forced to paint, a musician cannot be forced to play, and a poet cannot be forced to write.”
source: people.com
