SCOTUS to Hear Case with Potential Religious Liberty Impacts in Alabama

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June 27, 2017

WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case from Colorado regarding a bakery’s right to refuse service to a gay couple wanting to buy a wedding cake. The culture war case has the potential for widespread social implications, including right here in Alabama.

Masterpiece Cakeshop Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights is a challenge of Colorado’s public accommodations law, which treats LGBTQ individuals as a legally protected class. The cake shop owner claims that the law violates his First Amendment rights to free speech and religious exercise by forcing him to bake a cake for a service he disagrees with.

Supreme Court experts see the case as a toss-up akin to the ObamaCare and Gay Marriage cases from recent years. Most of the attention is being paid to Justice Anthony Kennedy, the justice most often seen as the court’s swing vote.

The bakery has been represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a non-profit legal organization that advocates for the right of people to freely live out their faith. Over the course of its history, the organization has represented and aided many religious groups and individuals working to protect their rights under the First Amendment.

“Every American should be free to choose which art they will create and which art they won’t create without fear of being unjustly punished by the government,” ADF Senior Counsel David Cortman said. “That’s why the bad decision in this case needs to be reversed. It imperils everyone’s freedom by crushing dissent instead of tolerating a diversity of views. We are all at risk when government is able to punish citizens like Jack just because it doesn’t like how he exercises his artistic freedom. America must have room for people who disagree to coexist.”

Liberals across the country have passed laws to force a multitude of businesses to engage in transactions that violate deeply held religious beliefs. Perhaps the most famous example is the Oregon Bakery Case, wherein Melissa’s Sweet Cakes was fined $135,000 for refusing to bake a cake for a lesbian wedding. Such cases have been decided in this manner due to state statutes extending public accommodations protections to the LGBTQ community. Alabama does not have such a law at this time.

Alabama has gone the opposite direction of many liberal states and created legal protections for businesses and nonprofits attempting to freely practice their beliefs. However, a ruling in favor of Colorado could open the door for public accommodations laws becoming a reality in Alabama’s future.