PEACE OF CAKE
BOSTON BAKERY WILL SERVE SAME-SEX WEDDINGS DESPITE SUPREME COURT FLAP
GRAHAM: RULING IS A WIN FOR FREEDOM OF RELIGION
FRANCK: TRUMP ROLLING BACK CIVIL RIGHTS
WASHINGTON — Yesterday’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that handed a narrow legal win to a Colorado baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a samesex couple had advocates on both sides of the case declaring victory.
But others worried that it would spur more litigation in an effort to create much wider religious rights exceptions to state anti-bias laws — including those in Massachusetts — that bar discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and other factors.
The ruling “sidesteps answering an important discrimination question and will likely open the door to future same-sex litigation,” said League of Women Voters president Chris Carson.
Moreover, court-watchers said the case — and the way the court carefully scrutinized comments of state officials for evidence of discriminatory intent — may give a major hint in how the justices are approaching their upcoming ruling on the challenge to President Trump’s travel ban, which could turn in part on the president’s Twitter feed.
“It’s hard to envision that the court would take such a close look at the hostility alleged in comments made in this case and ignore the tweets coming out of the Trump administration when they look at the travel ban case,” Carol Rose, executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts, told the Herald.
In yesterday’s 7-2 ruling, authored by Justice Anthony Kennedy, the court held that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission violated a baker’s free expres-