The current legal fight is over a so-called gender transition cake that a Colorado attorney, a man who identifies as a woman, demanded that Phillips design and bake. The Christian business owner predictably refused to do so the man, Autumn Scardina, sued.
On Tuesday, the Colorado Supreme Court agreed to hear the case which marks 14 years Phillips has been fighting left-wing activists and liberal courts.
Alliance Defending Freedom, which has represented Phillips during that time, expects oral arguments to be scheduled for next spring.
Lower courts have ruled in the Scardina’s favor but Phillips's legal team kept filing appeals in the hopes of finding a judge who would through what is happening to their client. Scardina conveniently called Phillips and demanded a gender transition cake the very same day the U.S. Supreme Court announced it would hear Phillips’ case.
"The Colorado Supreme Court should apply the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in 303 Creative to protect Jack's right to create freely," says ADF attorney Jake Warner, referring to the landmark 6-3 ruling that sided with Lorie Smith, a web page designer.
The 303 Creative ruling, which was also an Alliance Defending Freedom case, came just four months ago and upheld the First Amendment-protected religious beliefs of a Christian business owner.
"The First Amendment prohibits Colorado from forcing a website designer to create expressive designs speaking messages with which the designer disagrees," SCOTUSblog.com summarized about the decision in favor of Smith.
Colorado is the same blue state that sided with two homosexual customers back in 2012 after Phillips refused to design and bake their wedding cake. That initial ruling against Phillips was upheld by numerous courts until the high court, in a narrow ruling, said Phillips had been treated unfairly by the Colorado Civil Rights Commission. A member on the commission had openly expressed anti-religious views.
The high court's narrow ruling was viewed as a missed opportunity to uphold the First Amendment rights of Christian business owners until Smith’s case came before the court four years later.
