Texas Sen. Ted Cruz spoke out against a Colorado court that fined baker Jack Phillips after he refused to create a cake that celebrates gender transitions.
“Shameful. This is religious persecution. Naked & unabashed,” Cruz tweeted. “And it is lawless disregard of binding Supreme Court precedent.”
Shameful. This is religious persecution. Naked & unabashed.
And it is lawless disregard of binding Supreme Court precedent. https://t.co/6vLc5zo0N5
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) June 16, 2021
Cruz was responding to a ruling this week in a Colorado court that compelled the Masterpiece Cakeshop owner to create a custom cake for a customer’s sex reassignment celebration.
“Anti-discrimination laws are intended to ensure that members of our society who have historically been treated unfairly, who have been deprived of even the every-day right to access businesses to buy products, are no longer treated as ‘others,’” Denver District Court Judge A. Bruce Jones said in the ruling. “This case is about one such product — a pink and blue birthday cake — and not compelled speech.”
COLORADO JUST WON’T LEAVE BAKER JACK PHILLIPS ALONE
But Cruz argued the Colorado court ignored a Supreme Court precedent stemming from a previous ruling that also involved Phillips and his refusal to make a custom cake for a same-sex wedding.
In a 2018 7-2 ruling, the Supreme Court said the Colorado Civil Rights Commission could not force Phillips to make the custom cake that violated his deeply held religious convictions.
Shortly after the Supreme Court announced its intention to hear that case, attorney Autumn Scardina placed an order with Masterpiece Cakeshop requesting a custom cake that was pink on the inside and blue on the outside to celebrate her gender transition.
Phillips again cited his religious beliefs in refusing the request, prompting Scardina to make a complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission.
The Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents Phillips, decried the latest ruling from the Colorado court.
“Jack Phillips serves all people but shouldn’t be forced to create custom cakes with messages that violate his conscience,” General Counsel Kristen Waggoner said. “Radical activists and government officials are targeting artists like Jack because they won’t promote messages on marriage and sexuality that violate their core convictions.”
Waggoner blasted “the weaponization of our justice system to ruin those with whom the activists disagree.”
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“The harassment of people like Jack has been occurring for nearly a decade and must stop,” Waggoner continued. “We will appeal this decision and continue to defend the freedom of all Americans to peacefully live and work according to their deeply held beliefs without fear of punishment.”
