Baking Cakes and Religious Liberty

Would you force Muslim bakers to make cakes trashing the Koran or a black baker to make a cake promoting white supremacy?

The Supreme Court will soon hear a case that’s been making national headlines and testing the reasonable interpretation of our nation’s anti-discrimination laws.

The Court granted certiorari in Masterpiece Cakeshop Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, which centers around Jack Phillips, the Christian owner of the cake shop who refused to make a wedding cake for the gay wedding of Charlie Craig and David Mullins in Colorado.

Phillips claims that he was within his First Amendment rights in refusing to participate in the wedding ceremony by creating “art” that violates his view that marriage is only between a man and a woman. He has said that he would be happy to make any other cake for the couple for any other occasion, just not the wedding.

Colorado and its courts ruled against Phillips on two essential points: 1) That Phillips’ cakes—his art—were “mere conduct, not pure speech,” and thus were not subject to a First Amendment exemption from the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA), and 2) Since there is a law forcing Phillips to make the cake to which he objects on sincere religious grounds, it is acceptable to force Phillips to create this speech. According to the Colorado Court of Appeals, he could just say, “the government made me do it,” and absolve himself of any connection to the message on the cake.