California baker asks Supreme Court to hear First Amendment case
California baker asks Supreme Court to hear her First Amendment cake case
A California baker has asked the Supreme Court to take up a First Amendment case in which she argues the state attempted to force her to bake cakes for same-sex marriages despite her religious beliefs, an issue that has come before the justices multiple times in recent years.
Cathy Miller, a Bakersfield, California, Christian baker, filed a petition to the high court in late August seeking to reverse a state appeals court’s ruling that found she was not entitled to First Amendment protections for declining to design a custom cake for a same-sex marriage in 2017. The California Civil Rights Department filed the initial lawsuit against Miller, and while she prevailed at the state superior court in 2022, an appeals court later reversed the ruling. The state Supreme Court declined to hear her appeal, leading her to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The petition marks the latest instance of the high court facing requests to intervene in cases where a state has attempted to mandate custom services for same-sex marriages, despite a person’s religious beliefs. In the request to hear the case, Miller’s lawyers point to previous rulings in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis and Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, where the high court has upheld religious rights in similar instances regarding cake making and website design, respectively.
“Government attempts to compel expression related to ceremonies are, of course, not new to this Court. In recent years, this Court has repeatedly heard cases involving religious objections to participating in same-sex wedding ceremonies,” Miller’s application to the high court said. “But this Court’s rulings have not yet stopped government attempts to suppress religious objectors.”
“Indeed, this case is Exhibit A for how lower courts continue to manipulate the general applicability standard of Employment Division v. Smith, and thus all the more reason that precedent should be overruled. This case provides an excellent opportunity to put an end to that stubborn resistance to this Court’s rulings once and for all,” the application added.
One of the questions presented to the high court includes asking whether the 1990 ruling in Employment Division v. Smith, which found states may not have to allow illegal acts as a religious accommodation if the law is neutral in how it applies to religious and non-religious people, should be overruled if it allows California to go after her religious rights.
The petition for the high court to hear Miller’s case has garnered support from various groups and a coalition of 16 states, which filed briefs to the Supreme Court in support of her. The states’ brief, led by Texas, argued that previous decisions, including 303 Creative, while representing “crucial” steps for religious freedom, “left open several outstanding questions regarding what kinds of businesses are protected.”
“This petition presents an opportunity for the Court to resolve those open questions and articulate a test more protective of free-speech rights than the approach prevailing in the lower courts,” the states’ brief said.
“The Court should grant the petition to finally overrule Smith and restore the robust protections that the Free Exercise Clause guarantees for religious exercise broadly,” the brief added.
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty has represented Miller in her litigation against the state, and it pointed to the various friend-of-the-court briefs filed this week as evidence of “diverse voices rallying to Cathy’s side” and proving the importance of the case.
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“California’s relentless campaign against Cathy is unjust and un-American. The Justices should end California’s crusade and affirm that no one should be punished for living out their faith,” Adele Keim, senior counsel at Becket, said.
The Supreme Court may consider the case at one of its upcoming conferences after briefs from the state have been filed with the high court, meaning a decision on whether the appeal is taken up could come within the coming months.
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