Has Lost Numerous Appeals – Ruling Will Have a Historic Impact
The U.S. Supreme Court has just announced it will hear the case of a Colorado Christian baker’s refusal to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. Jack Phillips, owner of the Masterpiece Cake Shop.
In 2013 a Colorado state judge ruled Phillips violated the state’s nondiscrimination laws by refusing to bake a wedding cake for David Mullins and Charlie Craig in 2012. His attorneys argued that because Phillips sold his baked goods to LGBT people but refused to bake a same-sex couple a wedding cake, due to his religious beliefs, he did not violate the law.
“Mullins and Craig planned to marry in Massachusetts and then celebrate with family and friends back home in Colorado,” the ACLU noted in 2013. “Masterpiece owner Jack Phillips informed them that because of his religious beliefs the store’s policy was to deny service to customers who wished to order baked goods to celebrate a same-sex couple’s wedding.”
Phillips lost numerous appeals, including a 2014 appeal, a 2015 appeal before a three-judge panel of the Colorado Court of Appeals, and an April 2016 appeal before the Colorado Supreme Court.
In 2013 Fox News asked Phillips if he was willing to go to jail. “If that’s what it takes,†he replied. “I don’t believe I need to drop my religious convictions at any time for any reason.â€
UPDATE I: 9:50 AM EDT –
Supreme Court has repeatedly refused such cases. This is likely because of Gorsuch.
UPDATE II: 10:12 AM EDT –
SCOTUS delayed deciding whether or not to take this case 10 times, according to MSNBC’s Ari Melber. The Gorsuch effect…
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