Colorado Supreme Court dismisses latest Masterpiece Cakeshop case

DENVER — The Colorado Supreme Court, by 4-3, declined to address the high-profile issue of a Christian baker’s refusal to make a cake for a customer celebrating a gender transition, instead concluding the case was not properly filed in the first place.

Previously, a trial judge and the state’s Court of Appeals agreed Masterpiece Cakeshop, owned by Jack Phillips, denied service to Autumn Scardina based on her transgender status, which amounted to a violation of the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA). The Supreme Court subsequently agreed to examine whether Phillips’ cake-making was “speech” protected by the First Amendment, notwithstanding the anti-discrimination law.

However, the Supreme Court ultimately did not reach that question. Instead, the majority concluded Scardina mistakenly filed her lawsuit in the district court when she should have sought review in the Court of Appeals at the outset.

“Irrespective of the merits of Scardina’s claim, the district court here was not permitted to consider her case. Masterpiece has argued as much throughout this litigation, though for reasons slightly different than those we rest on here,” wrote Justice Melissa Hart in the Oct. 8 opinion.

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