The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a case involving the bakery Sweet Cakes by Melissa, which refused to bake a cake after they discovered it was for a lesbian’s wedding.
Sweet Cakes, owned by Aaron and Melissa Klein, closed in October 2016. The Kleins were fined $135,000 by the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI).
The Kleins had refused to pay the damages and the Klein’s attorney had requested a stay with the Oregon Court of Appeals, arguing the fine would ruin the couple’s business, despite the fact that supporters of the bakery had donated nearly $500,000 to the couple.
KGW reports: “The justices’ action Monday keeps the high-profile case off the court’s election-year calendar and orders state judges to take a new look at the dispute between the lesbian couple and the owners of a now-closed bakery in the Portland area. The high court’s brief order directs appellate judges in Oregon to consider last term’s Supreme Court ruling in favor of a baker from Colorado who would not make a cake for a same-sex wedding. The court ruled that baker Jack Phillips was subjected to anti-religious bias in the Colorado Civil Rights Commission’s determination that he violated state anti-discrimination in refusing to bake the couple’s wedding cake. The Oregon appellate ruling came before the court’s decision in Phillips’ case.”
