A Christian baker believes she should not have to design a cake that celebrates an ideology that goes against her faith.
In 2017, Cathy Miller was reportedly approached by a lesbian couple, Eileen and Mireya Rodriguez-Del Rio, at her business, the Tastries Bakery in Bakersfield, California.
‘A three-tiered, plain white cake with no writing, engravings, adornments, symbols, or images is not pure speech.’
Miller explained that same-sex couples were not part of her belief system and that she did not wish to design their cake. Miller did, however, recommend another cake decorator in town.
Later that year, California’s Civil Rights Department sued Miller and said she violated the state’s anti-discrimination laws.
In 2023, a five-day trial ended with a ruling in favor of Miller, finding that she “serve[d] and employ[ed]” people of all sexual orientations and that her “only intent, her only motivation, was fidelity to her sincere Christian beliefs.”
However, an appellate court reversed the decision and said in February that Miller’s refusal was “not protected expression under the federal Constitution’s free speech guarantee.”
“A three-tiered, plain white cake with no writing, engravings, adornments, symbols, or images is not pure speech,” wrote associate Justice Kathleen Meehan of the California 5th District Court of Appeal, Yahoo reported.
After the California Supreme Court refused to hear her argument, Miller is now asking the SCOTUS to hear her case.
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Photo by Becket
Miller has allegedly always safeguarded her business with the declaration that her custom creations are all carefully designed and will not “celebrate ideals that violate the Christian sacrament of marriage.”
Her written standards also state that Tastries will not design custom bakery items that depict gore or pornographic images, demean others, or celebrate drug use.
While Miller has faced near limitless threats over the years, she said she has been humbled by the “outpouring of support for my freedom to serve my community with joy, compassion, and faith in my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
A total of 16 states — along with other legal and faith groups — have asked the Supreme Court to articulate a clear rule regarding the expressive nature of the wedding cakes, so that lower courts can resolve cases on their own. These states are:
Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, and West Virginia.
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Photo by Becket
Similar cases have been heard by the Supreme Court in recent history.
The Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission case was decided in 2018, in which a Colorado baker told a same-sex couple that he would not create a cake for their wedding due to his religious opposition to same-sex marriage. Colorado did not recognize same-sex marriage at the time of the event, and the baker said he would still sell them other baked goods.
The Supreme Court sided with baker Jack Phillips, but not because it believed he should be allowed to refuse the service. Rather, the high court ruled in a 7-2 decision that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission showed religious bias toward Phillips in the case.
In the 2023 ruling for 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that the First Amendment prohibits Colorado from forcing a web designer to create “expressive designs for same-sex marriages” and to speak “messages with which the designer disagrees.”
Justice Neil Gorsuch’s opinion for the case focused on “expressive conduct” and content.
“No government … may affect a ‘speaker’s message’ by ‘forc[ing]’ her to ‘accommodate’ other views,” Gorsuch wrote.
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