Christian baker asks judge to toss out lawsuit over his refusal to bake a trans lawyer’s birthday cake
Jack Phillips appearing on The View in 2017. (The View)
Christian baker Jack Phillips, who’s being sued for refusing to bake a gender transition birthday cake, is now asking the judge to dismiss the lawsuit.
Masterpiece Cakeshop owner Phillips refused to bake a pink and blue frosted cake to celebrate the transition of Autumn Scardina, a Denver-based transgender lawyer and activist.
When Scardina filed a complaint through the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, Phillips in turn sued the state of Colorado, claiming that he was being persecuted for his religious beliefs.
In March 2019, Phillips and the state of Colorado agreed to drop their cases against each other.
Now Phillips’ attorneys have filed a motion asking the court to dismiss Scardina’s case as well, arguing that she should have gone to the appeals court for a second course of action instead of opening a new tab at the trial court level.
“At some point, your honour, this must stop. Mr Phillips just wants to get back to his life and make cakes,” the bakery’s attorney, Jake Warner, told the court via video conference on Thursday.
“If the plaintiff had any questions, [she] could have filed at the court of appeals and the district, but plaintiff wants to start the case all over and that isn’t fair to Mr Phillips,” Courthouse News reported.
Scardina is seeking more than $100,000 in damages, fines, and attorney’s fees.
It’s not Phillips’ first legal battle with the LGBT+ community – he was previously embroiled in a landmark Supreme Court case over his refusal to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple.
Jack Phillips cited “religious objections” and claimed that Jesus Christ would actually have discriminated against gay people. After a protracted legal battle, in June 2018 the US Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in favour of Masterpiece Cakeshop.
Although he’s keen for his latest lawsuit to be dropped he’s still cashing in on his first one, having landed himself a lucrative book deal about the Supreme Court battle.
The memoir will be a “firsthand account of his experience on the front lines” of a cultural battle between religious and secular forces.
