Earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its much-anticipated ruling in a closely watched case about a Colorado baker who refused on religious grounds to provide a wedding cake for a same-sex marriage. The baker had been found in violation of Colorado’s anti-discrimination law by the Colorado Civil Rights Commission (Commission), and his case eventually ended up before the U.S. Supreme Court, raising the possibility that the Court would rule on the core question of whether free speech and/or the right to religious freedom can trump anti-discrimination laws.
Instead, however, in a 7-2 ruling, the Court in Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, No. 16-111 (U.S. June 4, 2018), found that public comments by Commission members in deciding the baker’s case indicated a biased disregard for his right to freely exercise his religious beliefs and, as a result, concluded the Commission did not give full and fair consideration to the baker’s religious objections.
The Court’s narrow decision thus leaves open for another day the broader issue of whether a service provider’s sincere religious beliefs must give way to the need to protect the rights of same-sex couples. Accordingly, as a practical matter the ruling has no direct impact beyond the particular circumstances of this case. Businesses, whether they are open to the public or not, continue to be subject to applicable anti-discrimination laws relating to both sexual orientation and religion.
A copy of the Supreme Court’s opinion in Masterpiece Cakeshop is available here.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.