California baker appealing to SCOTUS in religious liberty case

Attorneys for Christian cake designer Cathy Miller planned to appeal her religious liberty case to the U.S. Supreme Court after the Supreme Court of California refused to hear her appeal last week. The nation’s highest court has established more than once that creative professionals don’t have to choose between honoring their faith and creating art, according to Miller’s attorney, Adèle Keim, senior counsel at the legal nonprofit Becket. Miller has fought this case since 2017, and hopefully the federal Supreme Court will once-and-for-all establish Miller’s right to create custom cakes while honoring her faith, she added.

What’s the case about? Miller operates Tastries Bakery north of Los Angeles in Bakersfield, and specializes in designing wedding cakes. A same-sex couple attempted to contract Miller to design their wedding cake, but Miller felt uncomfortable taking the job because of her beliefs in Biblical marriage. She told the couple that she couldn't fulfill their order and recommended several other bakeries in the area to contact instead. Tastries then came under massive online criticism before being sued by the state’s civil rights department.

Miller has since fought for her religious beliefs in court, and the Superior Court of California ultimately ruled that Miller can’t be forced to design a wedding cake that violates sincerely held religious values. The state then appealed the superior court’s ruling to California’s Fifth District Court of Appeals, which ruled against Miller in February. Tastries then petitioned the California Supreme Court to rule in the case, which declined to do so last week. Miller’s only option now is to appeal to the highest court in the land.

Thomas More Society Special Counsel Charles LiMandri co-represents Miller with Becket attorneys and reiterated the necessity of appealing to the conservative majority high court. Miller honored her religious convictions in a respectful and loving way by referring the couple to another bakery, LiMandri said. Hopefully, SCOTUS will take a different view than the California Supreme Court and restore Miller’s religious freedoms, he added.

Dig deeper: Read Steve West’s report on the Fifth District Court of Appeals ruling against Miller in February.