A lawsuit was dismissed this week in Colorado against a baker who refused to make a cake for a transgender woman.
On Tuesday, Colorado’s Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit against Christian baker Jack Phillips, citing procedural grounds. The justices opted not to address the free speech issues at the heart of the case, which had drawn national attention.
Phillips was originally sued in 2017 by attorney Autumn Scardina after his Denver-area bakery, Masterpiece Cakeshop, refused to make a pink cake with blue frosting to celebrate her gender transition.
In a 6-3 decision, the justices ruled that Scardina had not exhausted her legal options in lower courts before filing the lawsuit, leading to the dismissal on procedural grounds.
The case is one of several in Colorado that have highlighted the tension between LGBTQ+ civil rights and First Amendment protections. In 2018, Phillips secured a partial victory at the U.S. Supreme Court after refusing to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple.
Scardina placed her cake order on the same day the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Phillips’ appeal in the wedding cake case. She said her intent was to challenge Phillips’ assertion that he would serve LGBTQ+ customers, rejecting claims that her order was a setup for litigation.
Demonstrators rally in front of the Supreme Court building on the day the court is to hear the case Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission on December 5, 2017, in Washington, DC. On Tuesday, the Colorado Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit against the baker behind Masterpiece Cakeshop.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Before suing Phillips, Scardina filed a complaint with the state and the Colorado Civil Rights Commission. The commission determined there was probable cause to believe that Phillips had discriminated against her. In March 2019, the state and Phillips reached a settlement, agreeing to drop both cases—a deal that did not include Scardina. She continued her lawsuit independently against Phillips and Masterpiece Cakeshop.
According to Tuesday’s ruling, that’s where the case went off track. The justices said Scardina should have challenged the state’s settlement with Phillips by taking her appeal directly to the Colorado Court of Appeals. Instead, the case went to a state judge, who ruled in 2021 that Phillips had violated Colorado’s anti-discrimination law by refusing to bake the cake for Scardina. The judge determined the issue centered on Phillips’ refusal to sell a product, not on compelled speech.
The Colorado Court of Appeals upheld the ruling in Scardina’s favor, determining that the pink-and-blue cake—without any requested writing—did not constitute speech protected by the First Amendment. Phillips’ attorney argued before the Colorado Supreme Court that his cakes were a form of protected free speech, asserting that Scardina’s intended use of the cake was relevant to his First Amendment rights.
Spokespeople for both parties told The Associated Press that they were reviewing the court’s decision and did not have an immediate comment.
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.
