Baker
Jack Phillips had refused to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple. (Alliance Defending Freedom)
The Supreme Court ruled Monday in favor of a Colorado
baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple, in one of the
most closely watched cases of the term.
In a 7-2 decision, the justices set aside a Colorado court
ruling against the baker -- while stopping short of deciding the broader issue
of whether a business can refuse to serve gay and lesbian people.
The opinion
was penned by Justice Anthony Kennedy, who is often the swing justice in
tight cases.
The narrow ruling here focused on what the court
described as anti-religious bias on the Colorado Civil Rights Commission when
it ruled against baker Jack Phillips.
"The Commission’s hostility was inconsistent with
the First Amendment’s guarantee that our laws be applied in a manner that is
neutral toward religion," Kennedy wrote in his majority opinion.
The court said the broader issue, though, "must
await further elaboration."
“The reason and motive for the baker’s refusal were based
on his sincere religious beliefs and convictions.
The Court’s precedents make
clear that the baker, in his capacity as the owner of a business serving the
public, might have his right to the free exercise of religion limited by
generally applicable laws," Kennedy wrote. "Still, the delicate
question of when the free exercise of his religion must yield to an otherwise
valid exercise of state power needed to be determined in an adjudication in
which religious hostility on the part of the State itself would not be a factor
in the balance the State sought to reach."
At issue was a July 2012 encounter. At the
time, Charlie Craig and David Mullins of Denver visited Masterpiece Cakeshop to
buy a custom-made wedding cake. Phillips refused his services when told it was
for a same-sex couple. The state civil rights commission sanctioned Phillips
after a formal complaint from the gay couple.
Mullins has described their case as symbolizing “the
rights of gay people to receive equal service in business … about basic access
to public life."
But the Trump administration backed Phillips, who was
represented in court by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative
Christian nonprofit. He had lost at every step in the legal appeals process,
bringing the case down to the Supreme Court's decision Monday.
Phillips has said he lost business and had to let
employees go because of the controversy.
And he has maintained that it’s his choice: "It's
not about turning away these customers, it's about doing a cake for an event --
a religious sacred event -- that conflicts with my conscience," he said
last year.
The court in December specifically examined whether
applying Colorado's public accommodations law to compel the local baker to
create commercial "expression" violated his constitutionally
protected Christian beliefs about marriage.
By wading again into the culture wars, the justices had
to confront recent decisions on both gay rights and religious liberty: a 2015
landmark opinion legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide and a separate 2014
decision affirming the right of some companies to act on their owner's faith by
refusing to provide contraception to its workers.
The Trump administration agreed with Phillips' legal
claims to a large extent. Attorney General Jeff Sessions in October issued
broad guidance to executive branch agencies, reiterating the government should
respect religious freedom, which in the Justice Department's eyes extends to
people, businesses and organizations.
But civil rights groups were concerned the conservative
majority on the court may be ready to peel back protections for groups with a
history of enduring discrimination – and predicted that giving businesses the
right to refuse service to certain customers would undermine non-discrimination
laws and hurt minorities.
When the justices heard arguments in December, Kennedy
was plainly bothered by certain comments by a commission member. The
commissioner seemed "neither tolerant nor respectful of Mr. Phillips'
religious beliefs," Kennedy said in December.
Liberal justices Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan joined
the conservative justices in the outcome. Kagan wrote separately to emphasize
the limited ruling.
But Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor
dissented.
"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," Ginsburg wrote.
The Associated Press contributed to this
report.
