Colorado Supreme Court dismisses transgender-cake lawsuit against Christian baker Jack Phillips

DENVER — The Colorado Supreme Court has dismissed a lawsuit against cakeshop owner Jack Phillips on procedural grounds, handing another court victory to the oft-sued Christian baker while sidestepping the case’s First Amendment and discrimination issues.

In a 4-3 decision, the court found that transgender lawyer Autumn Scardina took the wrong legal path when she sued in Denver District Court after the Colorado Civil Rights Commission dropped her discrimination complaint against Mr. Phillips.

“Irrespective of the merits of Scardina’s claim, the district court here was not permitted to consider her case,” Justice Melissa Hart wrote in the 4-3 majority opinion.

The decision did not address the merits of the lawsuit, which accused Mr. Phillips of violating the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act when he declined in 2017 to create a pink-and-blue cake for Ms. Scardina to celebrate the first anniversary of her gender transition.

Ms. Scardina filed a complaint in 2019 with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission. But after it began an investigation, Mr. Phillips sued the state for harassment.

The commission entered into a confidential settlement agreement with Mr. Phillips to dismiss the case, but did not consult with Ms. Scardina or issue the required order explaining the dismissal.

She reacted by suing Mr. Phillips in Denver District Court, which ruled in her favor in 2021. The Colorado Court of Appeals upheld the lower-court decision in 2023.

Instead of going to court, however, Ms. Scardina should have filed an appeal with the commission over its failure “to close the administrative adjudication without providing the statutorily mandated order,” according to the Tuesday ruling.

“Under these circumstances, we conclude that [the law] did not permit the district court to hear this matter,” said Justice Hart in the opinion. “We therefore vacate the decisions of the lower courts and dismiss this case. And, accordingly, we do not consider the merits of Scardina’s CADA claim, nor whether Masterpiece’s conduct was protected under the First Amendment.”

Jack Warner, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) senior counsel, cheered the ruling and called for an end to the “harassment” that Mr. Phillips has faced since he first refused to create a same-sex wedding cake 12 years ago on First Amendment grounds.

“Enough is enough. Jack has been dragged through courts for over a decade. It’s time to leave him alone,” Mr. Warner said.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Mr. Phillips’ favor in its 2018 decision in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, finding that the panel expressed hostility toward his Christian religious beliefs.

“That ruling did not address Phillips’s free-speech rights to decline to create custom cakes expressing messages that violate his faith,” ADF said. “Now, the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling has ended the most recent lawsuit against Phillips, dismissing the case because the attorney who filed it did not follow the right process. Like the prior win, this ruling does not address Phillips’ free-speech rights.”

Justice Richard Gabriel wrote a dissent joined by the two other justices in the minority arguing that the lower court did have jurisdiction to hear the case and that Ms. Scardina had exhausted her administrative appeals.

“The Commission did issue an order, namely, an order dismissing the case and concluding that Scardina had exhausted her administrative remedies, thereby ending the matter,” Justice Gabriel said. “Accordingly, I do not believe that [the sections of the law] support the majority’s position here.”

John McHugh, an attorney for Ms. Scardina, said he was “disappointed that the Colorado Supreme Court decided to avoid the merits of this issue by inventing an argument no party raised.”

“In Colorado, businesses cannot discriminate against people because of their status in the LGBTQ+ community,” he said in a statement. “The majority itself affirmed that ’nothing about today’s holding alters the protections afforded by CADA.’”

All seven of the Colorado Supreme Court justices were appointed by Democratic governors.