Colorado Supreme Court dismisses lawsuit against Christian baker over refusal to bake trans cake

The Colorado Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a controversial lawsuit on a technicality, which was filed against a Christian baker who refused to bake a cake for a transgender attorney who wanted to celebrate their gender transition.

The lawsuit is the latest for Masterpiece Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips, who has been the recipient of multiple lawsuits over the past 12 years, due to his firm refusal to bake cakes that go against his religious beliefs. The first case was in 2012, and gained national attention when he refused to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding.

The Colorado court did not rule on the constitutionality of the case, but said the legal team for plaintiff Autumn Scardina, who was born male, filed the case improperly.

"We granted review to determine, among other issues, whether [the attorney] properly filed [this] case," the Colorado Supreme Court wrote in its opinion, according to Fox News. "We conclude that [the attorney] did not."

"The underlying constitutional question this case raises has become the focus of intense public debate: How should governments balance the rights of transgender individuals to be free from discrimination in places of public accommodation with the rights of religious business owners when they are operating in the public market?" Justice Melissa Hart wrote in the court's majority opinion. "We cannot answer that question."

Phillips's legal team argued in the case that their client was protected under the First Amendment and that the federal government cannot force him to express a message he does not believe in.

"Enough is enough. Jack has been dragged through courts for over a decade. It’s time to leave him alone," Jake Warner, senior counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, said in a statement. "Free speech is for everyone. As the U.S. Supreme Court held in 303 Creative, the government cannot force artists to express messages they don’t believe. 

"In this case, an attorney demanded that Jack create a custom cake that would celebrate and symbolize a transition from male to female. Because that cake admittedly expresses a message, and because Jack cannot express that message for anyone, the government cannot punish Jack for declining to express it."

The firm added that Phillips makes his decision on what cakes to bake based on the content of the cake, and not the person who made the request.

Misty Severi is an evening news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage