When Colorado baker Jack Phillips decided to become a cake maker by trade, he probably never figured he’d be spending his life and court. Bakers aren’t doctors. No one speaks of “baker malpractice.”
Then in 2012 it happened. A same-sex couple with plans to marry asked Phillips to bake their wedding cake. When he declined, claiming the request ran counter to his Christian beliefs, the men sued — and won. Phillips claimed that this decision cost him 40% of his business. (RELATED: Per the Constitution, Christian baker should win his religious liberty fight: Here’s why he won’t)
Ultimately, following appeals, the case made its way all the way up to the Supreme Court, which in 2018 7-2 in Phillips’s favor.
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Now Jack Phillips is back in court. This time, the suit was brought by woman who asked Phillips to make a cake to celebrate her “gender transition” and, like the gay couple before her, was denied.
The plaintiff, a trans activist and Colorado attorney named Autumn Scardina, is seeking more than $100,000 in damages, fines, and attorney’s fees, according to The Christian Post.
called Phillips’ Denver-area bakery to order a custom made gender-transition cake. Scardina waited past the appeal deadline so he could file a new lawsuit in a different court.
Scardina is seeking more than $100,000 in damages, fines, and attorney’s fees.
Oral arguments in the case are set to take place on Thursday. As was the case in the same-sex wedding cake suit, Phillips is being represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). The ADF writes at its blog:
It wasn’t enough for Jack to lose 40 percent of his business after Colorado pursued him the first time. It wasn’t enough for Jack to have to defend his freedoms all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. And it wasn’t enough for Jack and his family to endure years of harassment and even death threats.
For some, it won’t be enough until Masterpiece Cakeshop closes its doors and Jack Phillips is in financial ruin. They want Jack, an average American business owner, to pay a hefty price — all because he wants to live according to his faith.
