“The Colorado Civil Rights Commission soon piled on, requiring the baker to submit quarterly reports (for two years) which detailed the name of any person he refused to bake a cake for and on what grounds the refusal was made. The reports were also supposed to document steps Phillips had made to end what the Commission deemed a discriminatory practice.”

A Lakewood, Colo., baker who refused to bake a cake for a gay wedding because same-sex marriage violated his religious beliefs will not have his case heard before the Colorado Supreme Court.

Jack Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, was found guilty by the Colorado Civil Rights Commission of having discriminated against Charlie Craig and David Mullins in 2012 when the two planned to wed in Massachusetts, but then hold a post-wedding celebration in Colorado. They asked Phillips’ shop to bake a cake, but he refused.

That refusal led to a court case in which Colorado Judge Robert Spencer ordered the baker in 2013 to “cease and desist” discrimination against same-sex couples, an act he said was illegal under state law.

Spencer also said the act of baking the cake for the men did not prohibit Phillips from exercising his religion.

That wasn’t enough for the state, however. The Colorado Civil Rights Commission soon piled on, requiring the baker to submit quarterly reports (for two years) which detailed the name of any person he refused to bake a cake for and on what grounds the refusal was made. The reports were also supposed to document steps Phillips had made to end what the Commission deemed a discriminatory practice.

Phillips then took his case before the Colorado Court of Appeals. The appellate court found that the ruling by the lower court and the Commission were appropriate. That court said in its ruling Phillips could not cite his religious beliefs as an excuse to not provide services to the male couple because “neutral laws of general applicability do not offend the Free Exercise Clause.”

Phillips, however, argued that the commission’s ruling was not neutral, but biased in favor of the same-sex couple and against religious belief. Therefore, he appealed again – this time to the state’s highest court.

The high court’s refusal to hear the case on Colorado law may not be the end of the legal road for Phillips. He could appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to have it hear the case, but the court has already refused to hear a similar New Mexico case.

In that case, the New Mexico Civil Rights Commission found photographer Elaine Hugeunin and her husband Jonathan guilty of discrimination for refusing to photograph a same-sex commitment ceremony. The state’s high court upheld the finding, even though the U.S. Supreme Court had not yet created the right of same-sex marriage.

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