Is there a constitutional right to Jack Phillips' cakes? - Washington Examiner

Has a baker ever been as in demand as Jack Phillips, proprietor of Masterpiece Cakeshop? Among the leftist elites of the Mountain West, a cake from Phillips is de rigeur. It seems that no other baker will do if you want something sweet for your wedding, birthday party, gender transition party, or celebration of satanic sex.

People who can’t procure Phillips' services are so despondent — read, enraged — that they sue. And these litigious customers have a friend in the Colorado Civil Rights Division. The agency doesn't think Phillips is exercising his rights when he refuses to bake for such events. Rather, it finds that he is violating the rights of those who are determined to show that members of the public must either submit to their social mores or be driven out of business. They don't really want a cake; they want a flour-and-frosting tribute to their "progressive" agenda.

The day in July 2017 that the Supreme Court ruled that Philips was entitled not to bake a cake for a gay wedding, a Denver-area attorney named Autumn Scardina went to his shop and ordered a cake to celebrate a gender transition. Scardina wouldn’t even consider placing her order with a baker who might support her cause. The cake wasn't the point. What she wanted was Phillips' defeat.

Spurned by Phillips, Scardina filed a complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Division, and it ruled that the baker had a legal duty to craft the requested ode to transgenderism.

Phillips is, once again, fighting back. With his lawyers from Alliance Defending Freedom, he has filed a federal lawsuit against the administration of Gov. John Hickenlooper, the Division of Civil Rights, and the Colorado Civil Rights Commission for “unconstitutional bullying.” The lawsuit says, “Colorado has been on a crusade to crush plaintiff Jack Phillips because its officials despise what he believes and how he practices his faith.”

As frustrating as this lengthy legal battle is, it may finally give Philips the chance to say, "Let them eat someone else's cake."

Let's hope so.

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