FFRF filed this Supreme Court amicus brief on October 27, 2017. This case centered around a baker who refused to design and bake a wedding cake for a gay couple. In response, the couple filed a discrimination complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission. The commission found that the baker had violated the couple’s rights under the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA). The baker argued that the Free Exercise Clause protected him from enforcement of CADA.
This amicus brief argued that the bakery sought to redefine the free exercise into an unlimited right to act on religious beliefs, which is contrary to historic precedent. Second, granting this type of religious exemption would have far-reaching effects beyond this one issue. This is because there is no practical way to draw a line between things like religiously motivated discrimination and discrimination motivated by nonreligious beliefs.
