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Page Number: 22.0

18 

MASTERPIECE CAKESHOP, LTD. v. COLORADO 

CIVIL RIGHTS COMM’N
 
Opinion of the Court 

weighed  against  Phillips’  sincere  religious  objections  in  a 
way consistent with the requisite religious neutrality that
must  be  strictly  observed.  The  official  expressions  of 
hostility  to  religion  in  some  of  the  commissioners’  com-
ments—comments  that  were  not  disavowed  at  the  Com-
mission  or  by  the  State  at  any  point  in  the  proceedings 
that led to affirmance of the order—were inconsistent with 
what  the  Free  Exercise  Clause  requires.  The  Commis-
sion’s disparate consideration of Phillips’ case compared to
the cases of the other bakers suggests the same.  For these 
reasons, the order must be set aside. 

III 
The  Commission’s  hostility  was  inconsistent  with  the
First Amendment’s guarantee that our laws be applied in
a  manner  that  is  neutral  toward  religion.    Phillips  was
entitled  to  a  neutral  decisionmaker  who  would  give  full 
and  fair  consideration  to  his  religious  objection  as  he
sought to assert it in all of the circumstances in which this
case was presented, considered, and decided.  In this case 
the  adjudication  concerned  a  context  that  may  well  be 
different going forward in the respects noted above.  How-
ever  later  cases  raising  these  or  similar  concerns  are 
resolved in the future, for these reasons the rulings of the
Commission  and  of  the  state  court  that  enforced  the 
Commission’s order must be invalidated. 

The  outcome  of  cases  like  this  in  other  circumstances 
must  await  further  elaboration  in  the  courts,  all  in  the 
context  of  recognizing  that  these  disputes  must  be  re-
solved with tolerance, without undue disrespect to sincere 
religious  beliefs,  and  without  subjecting  gay  persons  to 
indignities when  they  seek  goods  and  services  in  an  open
market. 

The  judgment  of  the  Colorado  Court  of  Appeals  is  re-

versed. 

It is so ordered.