Masterpiece Cakeshop V. Colorado Supreme Court Case Study

It was never just about the cake in the United States Supreme Court case, Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. In a 7 to 2 vote, the Supreme Court reversed the Colorado Commission’s decision which had found that Jack Phillips, the owner of the Masterpiece Cakeshop, was not within his First Amendment rights when he refused to bake a cake for the gay couple, Charlie Craig and David Mullins. Although controversial, proponents of the First Amendment count this as a huge win. Perhaps even more surprising was that two liberal stalwarts on the high court, Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, joined their five more conservative colleagues in the majority, with Justice Ginsburg penning a majority opinion that elicited a strong

After sitting down with the couple and hearing what they wanted him to do, Jack Phillips informed the couple that he could not honor their request due to his strongly held religious views and the couple left. After the fact, Craig and Mullins decided to take legal action. Beginning as a complaint and resulting in a lawsuit, the gay couple brought the case in front of the Colorado Civil Rights Commission where they won the suit on the grounds that Phillips violated the public accomodations provisions of Colorado’s anti-discrimination laws. Phillips appealed unsuccessfully to the Colorado Supreme Court. At that point, Phillips petitioned to the United States Supreme Court and the court agreed to hear the case. The Supreme Court was tasked with answering the question whether Colorado’s public accommodations law, that bans discrimination in places of public accommodation for a variety of reasons, including based on sexual orientation, compelled Phillips to use his skills to customize a cake for the gay couple’s wedding in violation of his first amendment right to freedom of