NRB general counsel Mike Farris has issued a statement on the victory of Colorado cake baker Jack Phillips in the Colorado Supreme Court.
The following statement is attributable to Mike Farris, NRB general counsel:
“Yesterday, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled 4-3 in favor of Colorado cake baker Jack Phillips, who has faced a string of belligerent lawsuits because of his stand for God and freedom.
“On the very morning that the Supreme Court of the United States announced that it would hear Phillips’ first appeal, his shop received a phone call from an attorney seeking a cake that was pink on the inside and blue on the outside, unmistakably designed to celebrate the attorney’s sexual transition. Of course, the lawyer was seeking a lawsuit, not a cake. A complaint was filed with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, which sat on the transgender cake case while the previous wedding cake case made it through the Supreme Court.
“Throughout his extensive legal battles, Phillips has been represented by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which I led as CEO during the original Supreme Court case and the first follow-up case.
“The Supreme Court ultimately ruled 7-2 in Phillips’ favor because of obvious anti-religious bias by the Colorado Civil Rights Commission (CCRC).
“Shortly after that victory, the CCRC pursued Phillips again based on the transgender cake. Again, the CCRC put its anti-religious bias on the record so plainly that the Commission’s lawyers essentially gave up and settled with Phillips. Not content with this outcome, the attorney who ordered the cake sued Phillips in state court.
“In the meantime, I had retired from ADF. As general counsel for the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) association, I was able to write an amicus brief for Phillips on behalf of the NRB when this new suit reached the Colorado Supreme Court.
“It was a major First Amendment clash, with ADF still representing Phillips. But there was a procedural question in play, and it was on that question that Jack won.
“In simple terms, the Civil Right Commission failed to follow the correct procedure to allow the attorney who requested the cake to bring a personal case. Therefore, the constitutional questions at hand were not addressed, but ADF already won a case establishing those principles before the Supreme Court in a more recent case, 303 Creative. Courts will often use procedural issues to avoid tacking tough constitutional questions, but a victory is a victory.
“This dismissal on procedural grounds is not the kind of issue that can be appealed to the Supreme Court. This should be the final victory on this matter. I heartily congratulate Jack and the team at Alliance Defending Freedom and thank God for this outcome.”
To interview Farris, please contact [email protected].
NRB Staff
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