Finding a Bright Line on Expression in Masterpiece Cake Case

Loyola Law School, Los Angeles Professor Kimberly West-Faulcon is following the U.S. Supreme Court case Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. The case stems from baker Jack Phillips’ refusal to make a wedding cake for a safe-sex couple, which challenged the refusal based on the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act.

Professor West-Faulcon, Loyola’s James P. Bradley Chair in Constitutional Law, observes:

This is a case that tries to pit our constitutional right to be free from government censorship of our expression against civil rights protections for same-sex couples. I think finding a sensible place to draw the line on what constitutes artistic expression would mean people who run store-front bakeries must serve all of their products to all of the public because a bakeshop is a public accommodation. If you are more “artist” than baker, I’d think the Court would expect you to have a private studio with more exclusivity than a place where the general public goes to buy cookies.