Phillips lost appeals at the state level, and the Colorado Supreme Court declined to take the case. In June 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, known as Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission.
Attorneys for the baker have argued that forcing Phillips to advance a message about marriage that is contrary to his faith violates the Constitution's protections for free speech.
In oral arguments in December 2017, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy had asked whether the commission decision could stand if at least one member based his or her decision "in significant part" on grounds of "hostility to religion."
Kennedy appeared critical of the commission, saying, "Tolerance is essential in a free society. And tolerance is most meaningful when it's mutual… It seems to me that the state in its position here has been neither tolerant nor respectful of Mr. Phillips' religious beliefs."
At the same time, the justice had wondered whether a victory for the plaintiff's argument would enable discrimination.
"It means that there's basically an ability to boycott gay marriages," said Kennedy, who is considered a swing vote in the case.
"If you prevail, could the bakery put a sign in its window, 'We do not make cakes for gay weddings'?" Kennedy asked Solicitor General Noel J. Francisco. "And you would not posit that an affront to the gay community?"
Francisco, who backed Phillips' case, suggested that the baker could say he does not make "custom-made wedding cakes for gay weddings, but most cakes would not cross that threshold." While there are dignity interests at stake, Francisco said, and he would not minimize the same-sex couple's dignity interests, "there are dignity interests on the other side here too."
Phillips declines to bake other kinds of cakes that promote ideas at odds with his beliefs, such as cakes that portray anti-American, atheist, or racist messages or disparage members of the LGBT community, his attorneys said. Phillips also declines to create custom cakes for other events he is uncomfortable supporting, such as Halloween and bachelor parties.
Since the litigation started, Phillips has said that he has lost more than 40 percent of his business due to his inability to serve any weddings. As a result, he has lost nearly half of his employees, and now struggles to keep in business.
He has also received death threats and has voiced concern for the safety of family members.
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The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops filed an amicus curiae brief on behalf of Phillips.