On Thursday, a three-judge panel of the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled against Masterpiece Cakeshop baker Jack Phillips, arguing he violated the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act by refusing to bake a cake for a gender transition celebration.
Critics of the ruling point to Phillips’ earlier “win” at the Supreme Court, which narrowly ruled in his favor, as the reason the baker continues to be targeted by activists. In 2017, former Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority opinion that some have argued essentially said Phillips could have lost his Supreme Court case if it hadn’t been for Colorado officials openly disparaging Phillips and his Christian views.
That narrow decision has allowed Phillips to continue to be persecuted, critics say. At the Washington Examiner, Quin Hillyer <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/fairness-justice/christian-cake-artist-gets-persecuted-again">argued</a> that the Supreme Court’s “search for the narrowest possible result merely invited further, seemingly endless rounds of new litigation.”
The latest lawsuit against Phillips comes from an activist attorney, Autumn Scardina, in Colorado who called Masterpiece Cakeshop on the same day the Supreme Court announced it would take his prior case – in which he was accused of discrimination for refusing to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding. The attorney requested Phillips create a custom cake that was pink on the inside and blue on the outside to celebrate a gender transition. According to the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which represents Phillips, the attorney also called back to request a cake depicting Satan smoking marijuana in order to “correct the errors of [Phillips’] thinking.” Phillips declined to make either cake because of the messages they depicted. The activist has now sued.
“Naturally, Colorado’s courts ignored the patently offensive request for a Satan cake and instead again held Phillips responsible for illegal discrimination based on gender, his religious objections notwithstanding,” Hillyer wrote. “Today’s affirmation by the appeals court of the lower court’s ruling takes ample advantage of the loophole left open by the Supreme Court while cherry-picking from other Supreme Court religious liberty decisions to reach its desired, anti-Phillips conclusion.”
On Twitter, prominent conservative PoliMath also blamed the Supreme Court for the ongoing legal struggles of Masterpiece Cakeshop.
“The result of John Roberts pushing for the narrowest possible ruling in the earlier Masterpiece case is that they continued persecuting Jack Phillips for years,” PoliMath tweeted. “They will continue to do this to him until he dies.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The result of John Roberts pushing for the narrowest possible ruling in the earlier Masterpiece case is that they continued persecuting Jack Phillips for years
They will continue to do this to him until he dies <a href="https://t.co/W8z3JF4iTv">https://t.co/W8z3JF4iTv</a>
— PoliMath (@politicalmath) <a href="https://twitter.com/politicalmath/status/1618729683423731719?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 26, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The appeals court on Thursday argued that Phillips only refused to bake the cake after learning the client was transgender and wanted to use the cake to celebrate his birthday and gender transition.
“Thus, it was Scardina’s transgender status, and her desire to use the cake in celebration of that status, that caused Masterpiece and Phillips to refuse to provide the cake,” the court wrote, arguing the cake “expressed no message.”
But ADL <a href="https://adflegal.org/press-release/co-cake-artist-appeal-decision-violates-his-right-create-freely">argues</a> that “Phillips works with all people and always decides whether to take a project based on what message a cake will express, not who is requesting it.”
“Over a decade ago, Colorado officials began targeting Jack, misusing state law to force him to say things he does not believe. Then an activist attorney continued that crusade,” the ADF said in a statement. “This cruelty must stop. One need not agree with Jack’s views to agree that all Americans should be free to say what they believe, even if the government disagrees with those beliefs.”

Masterpiece Cakeshop

Critics Say Latest Lawsuit Against Beleaguered Masterpiece Cakeshop Baker Inevitable After Weak SCOTUS Ruling

Colorado Appeals Court Rules Against Masterpiece Cakeshop Baker Jack Phillips Over Transgender Cake

Colorado

Jack Phillips

Lawsuit

Religious Liberty

Transgender

U.S.

Colorado baker Jack Phillips is a perpetual offender. He simply will not do. His offense? Unswervingly honoring his deeply held, and constitutionally protected, religious beliefs.
We&#8217;ve all heard of Phillips and his travails. Leftist bullies have been tormenting him for years, beginning in 2012, when the Colorado Civil Rights Commission targeted him for refusing to make a custom-designed cake to celebrate a same-sex wedding.
After several setbacks in various tribunals, Phillips was finally vindicated in a 7-to-2 U.S. Supreme Court ruling holding that the state of Colorado had shown &#8220;clear and impermissible hostility&#8221; toward Phillips&#8217; religious convictions in violation of his First Amendment rights.
If there&#8217;s one thing as certain as death and taxes, it&#8217;s that the Left is indefatigable and heartless. They make it personal when you don&#8217;t bend to their wishes. It was personal against Phillips — and they made an example of him.
So, the state persisted, as if neither embarrassed nor chastened by the court&#8217;s decision. The Left didn&#8217;t take a breath. Within weeks of the court&#8217;s ruling, it targeted Phillips again for a different but strikingly similar sin: refusing to build a custom cake celebrating a gender transition.
Specifically, attorney Autumn Scardina had requested that Phillips make a cake blue on the outside and pink on the inside to symbolize the transition from male to female. Just as with the same-sex-wedding cake, Phillips declined, explaining it would violate his religious beliefs to do so.
Phillips finally had enough. He filed a federal lawsuit against the Colorado Civil Rights Commission for pursuing him again, based on Scardina&#8217;s complaint. In the process, Phillips marshaled evidence that the state was engaging in anti-religious hostility, leading Colorado officials to back down.
Scardina let the appeals deadline pass but craftily filed a civil lawsuit against Phillips. Alliance Defending Freedom, Phillips&#8217; public-interest law firm, filed a motion to dismiss what should have been deemed a frivolous case. But to leftist activist judges, frivolous often means meritorious. They view themselves as superlegislators not bound by the separation of powers doctrine or limited by their proper judicial function.
The court allowed the case to proceed and it went to trial on March 22, 2021. Just this week, the judge ruled that in refusing to make the cake celebrating a gender transition, Phillips violated the law. Denver District Judge A. Bruce Jones cavalierly refused to take Phillips at his word — that he declined because making the cake would have violated his religious beliefs. Jones said the case involved Phillips&#8217; refusal to sell a product, not compelling speech.
&#8220;The anti-discrimination laws are intended to ensure that members of our society who have historically been treated unfairly, who have been deprived of even the every-day right to access businesses to buy products, are no longer treated as others,&#8221; said Jones.
This is rank speciousness. Phillips didn&#8217;t refuse to sell any products to anyone. He refused to make a custom cake with a message violating his religious convictions.
Kristen Waggoner, general counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, captured the essence of the Left’s witch hunt against Phillips. &#8220;Radical activists and government officials are targeting artists like Phillips because they won&#8217;t promote messages on marriage and sexuality that violate their core convictions,&#8221; said Waggoner.
That&#8217;s exactly right. Phillips will happily serve LGBTQ individuals. He doesn&#8217;t deny them access to his shop and doesn&#8217;t refuse to serve them. He just won&#8217;t bow to their demands to endorse messages, as part of his art, that contradict his values.
This case is not about discrimination. Phillips is the victim here, not those who have singled him out for punishment to make a societal statement. They can find plenty of bakers thrilled to make a cake to their specifications. But that&#8217;s not enough. Truth be told, Phillips&#8217; tormentors probably don&#8217;t even care about a cake at all. Their goal is to suppress opposing views. No, that&#8217;s too charitable. They want to force us what to think and to say.
They sought Phillips out like the predators they are and have been ceaselessly harassing and abusing him for years and manifestly won&#8217;t be denied, even when the Supreme Court smacks them down. This is not their crusade for tolerance. It is precisely the opposite. They refuse to live and let live; they require total submission, and they&#8217;re willing to bankrupt and destroy any who refuse to surrender and grovel.
This is not America — or, sadly, perhaps it is. This is what it&#8217;s come to. The woke bullies insist we all become cultural insomniacs — so woke that we&#8217;ll never sleep again. Well, Phillips refused to sleep all right, but just not in the way his ruthless enemies demanded.
Liberty lovers are indebted to Phillips for his refusal to back down, for his courage in standing up not just for himself, but for all of us who still care about America&#8217;s founding principles and particularly religious liberty and freedom of expression. While the Left’s scorched-earth march to uproot traditional cultural values and our constitutional liberties can be painfully discouraging to witness, heroes such as Phillips are an inspiration and are providing a template for our resistance against leftist totalitarians.
God bless you, Jack Phillips, as you continue to fight for us.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
David Limbaugh is a writer, author and attorney. His latest book is &#8220;Guilty by Reason of Insanity: Why the Democrats Must Not Win.&#8221; Follow him on Twitter @davidlimbaugh and his website at www.davidlimbaugh.com. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.

LIMBAUGH: Baker Jack Phillips – A Cultural Hero

A Colorado court this week decided to punish baker Jack Phillips for refusing to design a cake that celebrates a gender transition because of his Christian beliefs.
Phillip&#8217;s legal team is continuing the fight, setting in motion an appeal of the Colorado court&#8217;s decision in Scardina v. Masterpiece Cakeshop.
“Jack Phillips serves all people but shouldn’t be forced to create custom cakes with messages that violate his conscience,&#8221; said Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) General Counsel Kristen Waggoner, reacting to the court decision.
Waggoner is representing Phillips and has been for nearly a decade.
&#8220;In this case, an activist attorney demanded Jack create custom cakes in order to ‘test’ Jack and ‘correct the errors’ of his thinking, and the activist even threatened to sue Jack again if the case is dismissed for any reason,&#8221; she explained. &#8220;Radical activists and government officials are targeting artists like Jack because they won’t promote messages on marriage and sexuality that violate their core convictions.&#8221;
&#8220;This case and others — including the case of floral artist <a href="https://u7061146.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=4tNED-2FM8iDZJQyQ53jATUaOA13Rz-2BH0OnQCX1pwpS4isdKMd37U8245fIfAv4xuRo-2FyBRdPA-2FcWhL3jBFyGK0eGEnWkn7WSR1BMTKHpjUhxNXybgtPoTpqtpaChO-2BywgJm4p_THjlhOQ-2FlUkeR1Yx6RMOTROlTiWu9mVPBZGKlMN7Z2IGbVCmysY2TbYB900TZLqnbS6pIz-2BSgXGc7L0d2DYFdg3bKkOIuAk7SZosqObXM6ZZyqB2vk9jGsYCD4t5ifUd8avuh9qT-2FCPmOebckvZ1WdOTdlzHO5XID6eNTFAmTFDbVh7VWbIGuKOCoLJwI-2BxF1xQF6nmp6o4yp1OE2H61tj08oXUVOYLcbIPt-2BBxTF3GUPtXM-2FB7zW12Cjud9-2BtLxQMkHUvJRbwlPRmnAIYRgcYh7iH9LhpDmb0n4WpMVbQueP53k2o02hz-2FSoekTnWMudXUT37x4DmfE9PNDfBdzln7qfHpMh5TndQguv9ohKtc-3D" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://u7061146.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn%3D4tNED-2FM8iDZJQyQ53jATUaOA13Rz-2BH0OnQCX1pwpS4isdKMd37U8245fIfAv4xuRo-2FyBRdPA-2FcWhL3jBFyGK0eGEnWkn7WSR1BMTKHpjUhxNXybgtPoTpqtpaChO-2BywgJm4p_THjlhOQ-2FlUkeR1Yx6RMOTROlTiWu9mVPBZGKlMN7Z2IGbVCmysY2TbYB900TZLqnbS6pIz-2BSgXGc7L0d2DYFdg3bKkOIuAk7SZosqObXM6ZZyqB2vk9jGsYCD4t5ifUd8avuh9qT-2FCPmOebckvZ1WdOTdlzHO5XID6eNTFAmTFDbVh7VWbIGuKOCoLJwI-2BxF1xQF6nmp6o4yp1OE2H61tj08oXUVOYLcbIPt-2BBxTF3GUPtXM-2FB7zW12Cjud9-2BtLxQMkHUvJRbwlPRmnAIYRgcYh7iH9LhpDmb0n4WpMVbQueP53k2o02hz-2FSoekTnWMudXUT37x4DmfE9PNDfBdzln7qfHpMh5TndQguv9ohKtc-3D&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1624026145904000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHIeUc-y4YBwm8jFf5Rlvs_CNYcYg">Barronelle Stutzman</a>, whose petition is pending before the U.S. Supreme Court — represents a disturbing trend: the weaponization of our justice system to ruin those with whom the activists disagree,&#8221;  empathized Waggoner. &#8220;The harassment of people like Jack and Barronelle has been occurring for nearly a decade and must stop.&#8221;
&#8220;We will appeal this decision and continue to defend the freedom of all Americans to peacefully live and work according to their deeply held beliefs without fear of punishment,&#8221; she announced.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/walsh-persecution-jack-phillips-matt-walsh">WALSH: The Persecution Of Jack Phillips</a>
On the same day Phillips won a Supreme Court case in 2018 over his refusal to create a cake celebrating gay marriage, he was asked by a transgender activist to create a cake celebrating gender transition. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/masterpiece-cakeshop-christian-baker-on-trial-again-this-time-sued-by-transgender-activist">The Daily Wire</a> reported:
<blockquote>In the <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/17pdf/16-111_j4el.pdf">Masterpiece Cakeshop case</a> of 2018, the Supreme Court ruled that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission evinced anti-religious bias for targeting Phillips for refusing to make a same-sex wedding cake,&#8221; The Daily Wire reported. &#8220;The Court did not rule whether a business could claim religious objections permitted them to refuse service to gays or lesbians.
On June 26, 2018, the United States Supreme Court ruled that it would hear Phillips’ case against the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, which revolved around him turning down a request to make the wedding cake for a gay couple in 2012. After he was targeted by the state of Colorado, Phillips was barred from designing custom wedding cakes, which, as the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) noted, represented around 40% of his business. <a href="https://www.adflegal.org/detailspages/blog-details/allianceedge/2018/12/17/an-important-day-in-jack-phillips-fight-for-his-freedoms">ADF also noted</a> that one of the commissioners belittled Phillips’ religious freedom defense, <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/390768-in-cakeshop-case-justice-kennedy-takes-left-wing-bigotry-to-task">calling it a “despicable piece of rhetoric.”</a>
The very day that the Supreme Court decided to hear Phillips’ case, his wife, Debi, got a call from Denver transgender attorney Autumn Scardina asking Phillips to make a birthday cake celebrating Scardina’s “gender transition.”</blockquote>
In March, Phillips told <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/colorado-baker-court-cake-celebrating-gender-transition-trap">Fox News</a> that this latest legal trouble was &#8220;a trap,&#8221; <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/colorado-baker-discusses-new-case-says-it-was-a-trap">The Daily Wire</a> reported:
<blockquote>“This case started the day the Supreme Court decided they were going to hear our case. It was a very busy, very crazy day at the shop,” Phillips explained. “In the middle of all of this chaos, we got a phone call from an attorney in Denver asking us to create a cake pink on the inside with blue icing on the outside.”
Phillips told Fox News that he was told “it was two colors, a color scheme, a combination, designed to celebrate a gender transition.”
“We told the customer, this caller, that this cake was a cake we couldn’t create because of the message; the caller turned around and sued us,” Phillips told Fox News. “This customer came to us intentionally to get us to create a cake or deny creating a cake that went against our religious beliefs.”
He added, “This customer had been tracking our case for multiple years. This case was just a request to get us to fall into a trap.”</blockquote>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/colorado-baker-discusses-new-case-says-it-was-a-trap">Colorado Baker Discusses New Case, Says It Was ‘A Trap’</a>

Baker Jack Phillips Takes Hit In Court After Trans Activist Asks For Trans Celebration Cake, Still Fighting  

LGBTQ

Colorado baker Jack Phillips is speaking up about the most recent case that has once again put him at the center of controversy. The same baker rose to fame years ago during the Supreme Court case that he won after refusing to bake a cake for a wedding for a same-sex couple. This time, he is being targeted for refusing to create a cake celebrating gender transition because he says that it violates his religious beliefs.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/masterpiece-cakeshop-christian-baker-on-trial-again-this-time-sued-by-transgender-activist">The Daily Wire</a> reports, &#8220;In the Masterpiece Cakeshop case of 2018, the Supreme Court ruled that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission evinced anti-religious bias for targeting Phillips for refusing to make a same-sex wedding cake. The Court did not rule whether a business could claim religious objections permitted them to refuse service to gays or lesbians.&#8221;
On the same day that the Supreme Court agreed to hear Phillips&#8217; case regarding the 2018 dispute, Phillips&#8217; wife received a call from a transgender attorney asking Phillips to make a birthday cake in celebration of the person&#8217;s &#8220;gender transition.&#8221;
When the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/masterpiece-cakeshop-christian-baker-on-trial-again-this-time-sued-by-transgender-activist">state of Colorado went after Phillips</a> again, that &#8220;prompted Phillips to file a lawsuit against the state, saying it had violated his First Amendment right to practice his faith and his right to equal protection under the 14th Amendment.&#8221;
Phillips recently discussed the ordeal with <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/colorado-baker-court-cake-celebrating-gender-transition-trap">Fox News.</a> &#8220;My experience this week has been trying, at best,&#8221; Phillips told the outlet. &#8220;We’ve closed down our bakery just so we could be in this trial. My wife had to testify, my daughter had to, I had to.”
&#8220;This case started the day the Supreme Court decided they were going to hear our case. It was a very busy, very crazy day at the shop,&#8221; Phillips explained. &#8220;In the middle of all of this chaos, we got a phone call from an attorney in Denver asking us to create a cake pink on the inside with blue icing on the outside.&#8221;
Phillips told Fox News that he was told &#8220;it was two colors, a color scheme, a combination, designed to celebrate a gender transition.&#8221;
&#8220;We told the customer, this caller, that this cake was a cake we couldn’t create because of the message; the caller turned around and sued us,&#8221; Phillips told Fox News. &#8220;This customer came to us intentionally to get us to create a cake or deny creating a cake that went against our religious beliefs.&#8221;
He added, &#8220;This customer had been tracking our case for multiple years. This case was just a request to get us to fall into a trap.&#8221;
Phillips told Fox News that in November 2020, he had a conversation with Autumn Scardina, the transgender person who requested the cake. Scardina said &#8220;if the case were rejected or dismissed, that they would be back the next day to request another cake order and then sue me and charge me again.&#8221;
At the trial this week, Scardina was asked if the move was &#8220;some sort of test&#8221; or a &#8220;setup.&#8221;
&#8220;I don’t like that phrase. I think it’s got a negative connotation. Nor do I associate it was a test, it wasn’t a test,&#8221; Scardina said at the trial. &#8220;More of a challenge of the veracity. It was more a calling of somebody’s bluff.&#8221;
Scardina added, &#8220;I wanted Mr. Phillips to be telling the truth. I think he’s a good man. I think he is a good Christian; and I think his beliefs are noble, valid, are entitled to protection. I believe that he is being genuine in what he feels is his truth.&#8221;
Phillips described the negative effect the case has had on his personal and professional life, adding that he hopes &#8220;this case is so clear that I am being forced to create against my beliefs, clear enough, that this initial ruling would be in our favor, and it stops right here.&#8221;

35D8C010-4293-4B8A-9DDE-BC496C5DB5FE_1_201_a

Colorado Baker Discusses New Case, Says It Was ‘A Trap’

Christianity

First Amendment

After fighting a grueling seven-year legal battle for respectfully declining to create a cake for a same-sex wedding, openly Christian baker Jack Phillips landed a 7-to-2 ruling in his favor at the Supreme Court.
The win was not enough, however; the same Colorado agency that went after Phillips over the same-sex wedding cake then sued the cake artist for refusing to create a gender-transition celebration cake. Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the religious liberty legal organization representing Phillips, got the case dismissed.
But the targeting did not stop even there.
&#8220;The individual who requested the gender-transition cake (and who also happens to be an attorney) wasn’t satisfied and decided to sue Jack in state court,&#8221; <a href="https://www.adflegal.org/detailspages/blog-details/allianceedge/2020/04/08/after-7-years-of-legal-battles-and-2-wins-jack-phillips-has-been-sued-again?fbclid=IwAR2GKs60ND7bz7t92kJmQY9ebtoJxD5-OQDjejd8aEn2RaH4k5-XlyPIqPo">ADF</a> announced in a press release issued Wednesday.
&#8220;On June 26, 2017, a local attorney named Autumn Scardina called Masterpiece Cakeshop and <a href="https://www.adflegal.org/detailspages/blog-details/allianceedge/2019/06/13/when-will-it-end-jack-is-back-in-court-for-a-third-time">requested a custom cake</a>: designed blue on the outside and pink on the inside to celebrate and reflect Scardina’s transition from male to female. The shop declined the request because the message of the cake contradicts Jack’s religious belief that God creates us either male or female,&#8221; the ADF press release explained. &#8220;When Scardina filed a charge against Jack with the Colorado Civil Rights Division, it took the charge as an excuse to go after Jack again. It wasn’t until Jack sued the state for targeting him and ADF uncovered more evidence demonstrating the state’s anti-religious hostility that Colorado officials finally ended their crusade against him.&#8221;
The Colorado Civil Rights Division abandoned the case, but Scardina was not finished. The attorney &#8220;waited until long after the deadline to appeal that decision passed, and then decided to start over somewhere else. Scardina has now sued Jack again about the same gender-transition cake request—only this time in a different court,&#8221; the organization noted.
The baker could now be forced to shell out $100,000 in damages, fines, and attorney&#8217;s fees, reported the <a href="https://www.christianpost.com/news/jack-phillips-back-in-court-for-refusing-to-bake-lawyers-transgender-birthday-cake.html">Christian Post</a>.
&#8220;We live in a country where freedom of speech and religious liberty are protected,&#8221; ADF argued. &#8220;While we may disagree on certain issues, we should all be free to live and work according to our beliefs. Jack Phillips, just like every creative professional, has the right to decline to use his artistic abilities to express messages or celebrate events he disagrees with.&#8221;
&#8220;But over the course of Jack’s legal battle, one thing has become abundantly clear: For some, it will never be enough to politely agree to disagree about important issues like the meaning of marriage or whether to celebrate a gender transition,&#8221; the organization&#8217;s statement continued. &#8220;It wasn’t enough for Jack to lose 40 percent of his business after Colorado pursued him the first time. It wasn’t enough for Jack to have to defend his freedoms all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. And it wasn’t enough for Jack and his family to endure years of harassment and even death threats.&#8221;
&#8220;For some, it won’t be enough until Masterpiece Cakeshop closes its doors and Jack Phillips is in financial ruin. They want Jack, an average American business owner, to pay a hefty price—all because he wants to live according to his faith,&#8221; ADF added.
The district court heard oral arguments on Thursday.
A motion to dismiss the lawsuit has been filed by ADF.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/walsh-persecution-jack-phillips-matt-walsh">WALSH: The Persecution Of Jack Phillips</a>

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Jack Phillips

Critics Say Latest Lawsuit Against Beleaguered Masterpiece Cakeshop Baker Inevitable After Weak SCOTUS Ruling

LIMBAUGH: Baker Jack Phillips – A Cultural Hero

Baker Jack Phillips Takes Hit In Court After Trans Activist Asks For Trans Celebration Cake, Still Fighting

Colorado Baker Discusses New Case, Says It Was ‘A Trap’

TARGETED: Christian Baker Sued AGAIN, This Time Over Transgender Cake