Lower courts in Colorado had concluded that Masterpiece Cakeshop and the bakery’s owner, Jack Phillips, had violated Autumn Scardina’s rights by refusing to make her a pink cake with blue frosting because of her identity as a transgender woman. Scardina had initially filed a discrimination complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Division after Phillips refused to make the cake she wanted to order to celebrate her birthday and her identity as a transgender woman. Justice Melissa Hart, writing for the majority, said Scardina should have challenged that decision in an appeals court, rather than file a new lawsuit. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2018 ruled in Phillips’ favor but on narrow grounds that avoided setting a major precedent allowing people to claim religious exemptions from anti-discrimination laws. But in June 2023, in a case billed as a sort of sequel, the 6-3 conservative majority U.S. Supreme Court held the First Amendment protected web designer Lorie Smith from being compelled by Colorado to provide services to same-sex weddings.

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Persons: Jack Phillips, Phillips, Scardina, Melissa Hart, Richard Gabriel, ”, construe, John McHugh, Scardina’s, ” Scardina, Phillips ’, Lorie Smith Organizations: U.S, Supreme, Colorado Supreme, Colorado Anti, Colorado Civil Rights, Defending, Colorado Civil, Phillips Locations: Colorado