First Liberty Institute represents Aaron and Melissa Klein (pictured), owners of the family bakery, Sweet Cakes by Melissa. Attorney Stephanie Taub says the state of Oregon effectively shut down the bakery for refusing to create a custom cake for a homosexual couple.
"This has been going on for almost 10 years," she notes. "The Oregon Court of Appeals found that the state agency that acted as prosecutor, judge, and jury in this case was biased against Aaron and Melissa Klein's faith."
As AFN reported earlier this year, the court concluded that the state agency violated the Kleins' exercise rights because it did not act neutrally toward their religion. That, she says, should have been the end of the case. Instead, that court sent the case back to the very same biased agency.
"So, we are asking the Supreme Court for a full and final victory for Aaron and Melissa," Taub tells AFN.
The Supreme Court term is scheduled to begin the first week of October.
"We could get a decision (on whether the Supreme Court will take up the case) by the end of this year, but we will probably know sometime by the beginning of next year," the attorney says.
The Supreme Court has not been shy about taking up First Amendment cases like this one. In the term that just ended, for example, justices heard arguments over a Christian flag and a football coach who was fired for praying after games. In the term that begins this October, the justices already plan to hear a First Amendment case involving a graphic artist/web designer.
