Supreme Court declines Christian florist’s case

Barronelle Stutzman will have to pay a fine for following her religious beliefs. The nation’s highest court on Friday declined to consider her case, meaning the Washington state Supreme Court’s ruling against her will stand. Stutzman had declined to provide florist services for the same-sex wedding of a longtime customer.

How did we get here? The state Supreme Court has ruled against the Richland, Wash., florist twice. But the U.S. Supreme Court vacated the first ruling and sent it back for reconsideration in 2018 after deciding in favor of Christian baker Jack Phillips in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. Phillips’ case turned on the explicit hostility Colorado showed toward his religious beliefs, but the Washington Supreme Court judges unanimously said they found no such animus toward Stutzman. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch said they would have heard her second appeal.

Dig deeper: Read my report in Liberties about the differences and similarities between Stutzman’s and Phillips’ cases.