The Colorado Supreme Court recently dismissed a lawsuit brought against a Christian baker who refused to make a transgender-themed cake, citing his religious beliefs. Reportedly, an individual has requested that Masterpiece Cakeshop, owned by Jack Phillips, make a cake to celebrate what they described as a gender transition. On Tuesday, Colorado’s highest court ruled 4-3 to dismiss the lawsuit against Masterpiece Cakeshop.
According to Justice Melissa Hart, who authored the court’s majority opinion, the plaintiff’s discrimination claims had not been adequately processed. “Could the district court properly consider the claims of discrimination presented here? In light of this dispute’s procedural journey, it could not,” Hart wrote.
The justice continued, “Scardina could have appealed the Commission’s decision to close the administrative adjudication without providing the statutorily mandated order but [he] did not. Instead, [Scardina] brought [his] discrimination claim anew in the district court.” She added, “We granted certiorari to determine, among other issues, whether Scardina properly filed [his] case in the district court. We conclude that [he] did not.”
However, Justice Richard L. Gabriel authored the dissenting opinion, which claimed the majority ruling “erroneously gives Masterpiece and Phillips a procedural pass.” He argued,”Substantively, the majority’s ruling throws Scardina completely out of court and deprives [him] of the opportunity to seek a remedy for alleged discriminatory conduct based on a novel interpretation of law that no party asserted and, to my knowledge, no court has adopted.”
The judge continued, “I am concerned that Masterpiece and Phillips will construe today’s ruling as a vindication of their refusal to sell non-expressive products with no intrinsic meaning to customers who are members of a protected class (here, the LGBTQ+ community) if Phillips opposes the purpose for which the customers will use the products. Such a claim, though unfounded, could detrimentally impact those affected by such conduct.”
While this is a notable victory for Phillips, it is important to note that it was not ruled on the basis of religious freedom. Therefore, as the National Review wrote, “I am happy for Phillips, but don’t be surprised if he is again subjected to merciless lawfare — perhaps even by Scardina, as the Court ruled that “we express no opinion about the merits of Scardina’s claims, and nothing about today’s holding alters the protections afforded by CADA.””
The outlet further noted that Phillips, who first made headlines for his Supreme Court victory in 2018 for refusing to make a cake for a same-sex wedding, has become a target of LGBT activists. The article continued, “Phillips has become a symbol of religious resistance to LGBT cultural agendas. I worry that he will again be asked to design a cake for an event that his faith opposes, and this time the proper procedures will be followed so that his figurative scalp can be nailed to the wall. (Don’t forget, he lost on the merits in the trial court and in court of appeals.)”
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