Cake Baker Sued, Again
Radio Commentary, 90.7, 91.7 New Life FM, September 14, 2018 – By Sue Ella Deadwyler
Masterpiece Cakeshop (sic) owner Jack Phillips is on the hot-seat again, despite the Supreme Court’s 7 – 2 vote in his favor on June 4th. However, that decision did not settle the fundamental question as to whether the government can coerce (force) businesses to discard their faith when doing business. So, Jack Phillips is being targeted … again.
In June of 2017, Jack Phillips was asked by a transgender Colorado lawyer to bake a cake that was blue on the outside and pink on the inside to celebrate the lawyer’s birthday, which, also, was the seventh anniversary of the lawyer’s “coming out” as transgender.
Fast-forward more than a year to June 26, 2018. That’s when the Colorado Civil Rights Commission decided there was probable cause that the Masterpiece Cakeshop owner denied the transgender lawyer “equal enjoyment of a place of public accommodation.”
Let me say this about that charge. By using the words “public accommodation,” the Colorado Civil Rights Commission seem to equate Jack Phillips’ “private bakery,” which he owns and operates, with “public accommodations,” that are provided by government taxes. According to Ballentine’s Law Dictionary, the legal definition of “public” is “belonging to the entire community.” Jack Phillips’ bakery does not belong to the entire community, but Colorado commissioners seem to think it does.So, responding to the lawsuit on August 14, 2018, Phillips’ attorney from Alliance Defending Freedom said Colorado officials were “doubling down on their anti-religious hostility”… . “[I]n moving ahead on this new case, the government is yet again confirming that it applies its laws in an arbitrary and unequal way, which the Supreme Court has already said it cannot do.” Jack’s ADF attorney, also, pointed out that the transgender attorney’s request for a blue/pink cake occurred on the same day the Supreme Court announced it would hear the Cakeshop case.
Jack Phillips’ refusal to create that cake is based on his faith, which is protected by the First Amendment. Since Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court must swear to support and defend, as well as bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States, they must uphold Jack Phillip’s First Amendment right to religious expression, again, and as often as necessary.
Compare this: (a) Of Colorado’s elected nine-member congressional delegation, 78 percent profess to be Christian, with this. (b) The governor-appointed seven-member Colorado Civil Rights Commission includes three Democrats, one Republican, two unaffiliated members and one is not mentioned. (c) Each member’s political party is noted, (d) but religious affiliation is not, while (e) at least four (a majority of seven) identify with groups claiming discrimination. Conclusion: Colorado Civil Rights Commission appointees do not reflect the philosophy of the Constitution of the United States or faith of Colorado’s congressional delegation and most Colorado voters. For Georgia Insight I’m Sue Ella Deadwyler, your Capitol correspondent.