He concluded that these comments displayed hostility toward the baker’s Christian beliefs. First, he cited some specific comments made by members of the Colorado Civil Rights Commission during their review of the case.
In his opinion he put forward two kinds of evidence for the Court’s conclusion that Colorado had failed to act neutrally towards the baker’s religious beliefs. Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the Court’s majority opinion. The Supreme Court overturned Colorado’s ruling, but didn’t provide additional guidance, instead leaving unanswered whether bakers have a Constitutional right to refuse to make cakes for same-sex weddings on religious or free speech grounds. For this reason, the Court “invalidated” the Colorado Court of Appeals decision, which upheld the finding that the baker had violated Colorado’s Anti-Discrimination Act. In reviewing information about how the state of Colorado determined that the baker violated Colorado’s law, the Supreme Court concluded that Colorado had acted in a biased fashion against the baker and had failed to give the baker’s religious beliefs the kind of neutral treatment the Constitution required. The First Amendment of the United States Constitution, which protects the right to the free exercise of religion, requires that adjudicative bodies treat religious beliefs in a neutral and unbiased manner. This is because the Supreme Court settled the case on another ground. But the questions about how the Supreme Court will balance LGBT civil rights and religious freedom rights in cases like this remained unanswered. The Masterpiece case gained national attention by asking the Supreme Court about how to properly respect LGBT civil rights in places of public accommodation when faced with claims of violations to religious free exercise and free speech rights.
The baker appealed to the Supreme Court, and the Court agreed to review his case. The state of Colorado sided with the same-sex couple and concluded that the baker had violated Colorado’s anti-discrimination law. The central question was whether a baker had violated Colorado state law in refusing to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple because of the baker’s religious objections to same-sex marriage. On June 4, 2018, the United State Supreme Court, in a 7-2 ruling, handed down a decision in Masterpiece Cakeshop Ltd.
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