Penna Dexter

The Colorado cake baker won his case at the US Supreme Court. But was the 7-2 ruling only for him?  His attorney, Kristen Waggoner, says Jack Phillips is not the only winner. She wrote in the Washington Post that “many other artists who share Phillips’ religious belief will benefit from the decision.”

David Cole, the ACLU lawyer who represented the homosexual couple who requested that Phillips design their wedding cake says, “We lost a battle, but won the war.”

He said this because the opinion turned on the court’s determination that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission had not been “neutral” but instead expressed “hostility” toward Jack Phillips’ religious beliefs when it decided it could force him to either create wedding cakes for same sex marriages or give up wedding cake design work altogether.

Columnist George Will attributes the 7-2 ruling for the baker to “loose lips” — those of several of the Colorado Civil Rights Commissioners who “manifested animus regarding the baker’s religious beliefs” during his hearing before them.

The Supreme Court ruled that the state may not punish Masterpiece Cakeshop for refusing to bake this cake. But the opinion did not articulate a First Amendment right for wedding vendors or other religious businesses to refuse service because of their religious convictions.

Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the opinion. In it he states,  “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.”

What about free speech? asks Justice Clarence Thomas in a separate opinion. The majority opinion doesn’t address it.

Writing at National Review, attorney David French describes this ruling as either a “bullet dodged” or “victory delayed.” There are more wedding vendor cases in the pipeline. Let’s hope and pray the Masterpiece opinion paves “the way for a better case before a potentially better court.”