The Colorado Supreme Court has dismissed a lawsuit against Jack Phillips, the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, who has been embroiled in legal battles for more than a decade over his refusal to create certain custom cakes due to his religious beliefs.
The decision comes as a relief for Phillips, who has faced ongoing legal challenges since 2012, when he first declined to make a cake for a same-sex wedding, citing his faith.
The recent lawsuit was filed by an attorney who has been involved in conflicts with Phillips for over 12 years, criticizing him for his views. The case in question sought to compel Phillips to design a custom cake symbolizing a gender transition, a message Phillips said he could not express because it contradicted his beliefs. The Colorado Supreme Court ruled that the lawsuit was improperly filed and therefore dismissed it, but did not address the broader issue of free speech.
“Enough is enough. Jack has been dragged through courts for over a decade. It’s time to leave him alone,” said ADF Senior Counsel Jake Warner. “Free speech is for everyone. As the U.S. Supreme Court held in 303 Creative, the government cannot force artists to express messages they don’t believe. In this case, an attorney demanded that Jack create a custom cake that would celebrate and symbolize a transition from male to female. Because that cake admittedly expresses a message, and because Jack cannot express that message for anyone, the government cannot punish Jack for declining to express it. The First Amendment protects that decision.”
Phillips previously won a significant victory in 2018 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Colorado officials acted with hostility toward his religious beliefs by penalizing him for refusing to make a cake for a same-sex wedding. However, that ruling did not establish a broader free-speech right for Phillips to decline creating custom cakes that express messages conflicting with his faith.
READ: Embattled Colorado Baker Ready To Take Fight For Free Speech To Supreme Court Again
The dismissal of the recent lawsuit follows last year’s U.S. Supreme Court decision in 303 Creative v. Elenis, which affirmed free speech protections for creative professionals. While the Colorado Supreme Court did not directly apply that precedent to Phillips’ case, the 303 Creative ruling supports ongoing free speech rights for artists like him.
The controversy began on the day the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Phillips’ first case. On that day, an attorney contacted Masterpiece Cakeshop with requests for custom cakes that Phillips declined, including one celebrating a gender transition and another depicting Satan smoking marijuana. Phillips refused these requests, explaining that they expressed messages that violated his beliefs. The attorney then filed the most recent lawsuit, aiming to challenge Phillips’ decision.
Despite ongoing legal challenges, Phillips continues to serve customers from all backgrounds, choosing whether to create custom cakes based on the message they convey rather than who requests them. The dismissal of this latest lawsuit marks another legal win for the cake artist, though the fight over his free speech rights remains a contentious issue.
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