What the Supreme Court's Masterpiece Cakeshop Decision Really Means
Yesterday, the Supreme Court issued its much-awaited opinion in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission—the case of Colorado baker Jack Phillips’ refusal to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding because doing so violated his religious conscience. The hotly-debated case is one of a number of recent cases where businesses open to the public—in another case a photographer and in yet another a florist—have refused to provide services at a same-sex wedding, notwithstanding state laws that prohibit businesses from discriminating against customers on the basis of sexual orientation.
The case was pitched as a clash between religious liberty and LGBT rights, the next battle in the so-called culture wars. And it was supposed to answer big questions: When someone’s religious conscience prohibits providing services for a same-sex wedding, which public value wins out? Must religious liberty yield to laws that prohibit discrimination against LGBT customers? Or must anti-discrimination laws carve out an exception for religiously-motivated businesses?
Continue reading "What the Supreme Court's Masterpiece Cakeshop Decision Really Means" at...