Jan 28, 2023
Authored by Jonathan Turley, Jack Phillip, the Colorado baker who brought the challenge in Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission has again lost an appeal in Colorado state court. After the Supreme Court effectively punted on the issue of his free speech and free exercise challenges to the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act ("CADA"), which protects against the denial of service in a place of public accommodation based on one's identity. After the 2018 decision, Phillip faced additional demands including the creation of a gender transitioning cake. The Colorado Court of Appeals ruled on Thursday that the refusal to make the cake requested by Autumn Scardina did not constitute free speech. I have a forthcoming law review article on free speech protections for the speech involved in this and similar cases around the country: "The Unfinished Masterpiece: Speech Compulsion and the Evolving Jurisprudence over Religious Speech" (forthcoming 2023).