Supreme Court takes on new clash of gay rights, religion

Mullins and Craig won their case at the state level, but Phillips argued that the First Amendment allowed him to refuse service to the gay couple based on religious objections.

The legal tumult began in 2012, when Jack Philips, the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, Colorado, a suburb of Denver, refused to create a cake for David Mullins and Charlie Craig – who were Wednesday in MA but planned to have a reception in the Rocky Mountain state.

Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch said the court should have reviewed the appellate ruling. “All civil rights laws would be vulnerable to such claims where the discrimination was motivated by religion”.

“Courts that have considered the arguments pressed by the bakery in this case consistently have come to the same conclusion: the Constitution does not give anyone the right to harm others based on religious beliefs”.

The two men married in MA but wanted to celebrate their nuptials with friends in Colorado.

Civil unions at the courthouse are a choice for many couples, but same-sex couples don’t have that option.

The U.S. Supreme Court legalized gay marriage nationwide in 2015. “Masterpiece’s potential compliance with CADA in this respect does not permit it to refuse services to Craig and Mullins that it otherwise offers to the general public”.

Jack Phillips, the owner of the Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, Colo., is charged with violating the state’s anti-discrimination laws which state that public businesses can not refuse services to customers based on sexual orientation.

But since its landmark 2015 ruling on same-sex marriage, the Supreme Court’s makeup has shifted to the right, raising the possibility that it could rule in favor of Phillips.

She explained her decision, saying, “My conscience was bothering me because so many people were calling and wanting a wedding”. “Businesses should not be allowed to violate the law and discriminate against us because of who we are and who we love”, said Mullins. Phillips and his wife own a business in Colorado, where as a cake artist Phillips designs cakes. It imperils everyone’s freedom by crushing dissent instead of tolerating a diversity of views.

The bakery is owned by Jack Phillips, who practices a version of Christianity deeply hostile to LGBT equality. On Monday, Gorsuch revealed that he opposes equal rights for same-sex couples.

The Colorado Supreme Court declined to take the case after the state’s Court of Appeals affirmed a Colorado Civil Rights Commission decision from May 2014. “Either use your talents to create expression that conflicts with your religious beliefs about marriage, or suffer punishment under Colorado’s public accommodations law”, Phillips said.

This ruling overturns lower court orders that blocked the controversial order, which will apply to travelers coming from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. That may signal a change from the court’s refusal to take the Elane Photography case in April 2014, a petition with nearly identical circumstances.