Determined right to religious freedom did not fall under 1st Amendment protection
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(Image by Steffen Zimmermann from Pixabay)
By Kate Anderson
Daily Caller News Foundation
A Colorado Court of Appeals judge ruled against Christian baker Jack Phillips Thursday after he appealed an earlier court decision requiring him to bake a cake for an individual’s gender transition.
Phillips won a previous case at the Supreme Court in 2018 after he declined to make a wedding cake for a gay couple, but was sued again in March 2021, after a transgender individual wanted Phillips, who owns Masterpiece Cakeshop, to make a cake that was blue on the outside and pink on the inside. Alliance for Defending Freedom (ADF) announced in a press release Thursday that the Colorado Court of Appeals had ruled against Phillips, but said that a plan was already in motion to appeal the ruling.
The court determined that Phillips’ right to religious freedom did not fall under First Amendment protection.
“Turning to the constitutional issues presented, the division concludes that the act of baking a pink cake with blue frosting does not constitute protected speech under the First Amendment,” the court wrote. “Additionally, the division concludes that CADA’s prohibition against discrimination based on a person’s transgender status does not violate a proprietor’s right to freely exercise or express their religion.”
Autumn Scardina, a transgender woman and attorney, attempted to order a cake for a gender transition party on the same day the Supreme Court announced it would hear Phillips’ case regarding his refusal to bake a cake celebrating a gay wedding, according to ADF’s press release. Phillips said he could not make the cake because it would force him to violate his religious beliefs.