The attorney for a Christian baker who has been targeted by California officials over her refusal to make a cake for a same-sex couple is hoping to take the shocking case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Adèle Keim, senior counsel at Becket, told CBN News that baker Cathy Miller, owner of Tastries shop in Bakersfield, California, has been in a years-long battle after declining to make a cake for a same-sex couple.
“What started this battle is Cathy’s faith,” Keim said. “Cathy Miller is a woman of faith. She’s also a creative person. She’s had her hands in all kinds of things. She has been a wedding planner, she taught for years at a Christian school, and her dream was always to open her own custom bakery, so she did that.”
Once marijuana was legalized in California, Miller started having customers come in asking for weed brownies and other sexually-themed treats that she wasn’t comfortable making, so she set standards about what would and wouldn’t be acceptable for her to offer.
“She created what she calls the design standards,” Keim said, noting Miller avoids grotesque Halloween themes, adult-themed products, and has other such restrictions, including the decision not to create products celebrating divorces or gay marriages.
In 2017, the situation came to a head when a same-sex couple requested a wedding cake. Miller reportedly politely declined and offered to instead send them to a willing baker.
But that couple reportedly became frustrated and filed a complaint.
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“They ignited a firestorm on social media,” Keim said. “They accused her of turning them away harshly, turning them away completely, which she hadn’t been trying to do. She’d been trying to work with them and help them as much as she could in good conscience — and she has been in court ever since.”
Keim said Miller is being persecuted by her own government, noting the case has volleyed through the courts. While the baker scored a victory stating she couldn’t be compelled to operate against her sincerely-held views, California won on appeal and the California Supreme Court declined to hear the case.
This means Miller will be appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court, with Keim hoping the justices take up the religious liberty battle.
“It’s the California Civil Rights Department that has gone after Cathy for these past seven or eight years,” she said. “During this time, this seven or eight-year period, the U.S. Supreme Court has said twice … when it comes to the wedding vendors who have a conscientious objection, ‘Back off. Back off.’ They said that in Masterpiece Cake Shop, which also involved a cake artist in Colorado, and they said it in 303 Creative, which involved a wedding website designer.”
Keim continued, “So the U.S. Supreme Court has spoken very clearly, and California courts have not had ears to hear.”
The conflict seems to be, according to Keim, California’s purported belief that civil rights law trumps the U.S. Constitution, an idea she rejects.
“The U.S. Constitution was intended to protect the rights of all Americans, no matter where they live in the country,” she said.
Ultimately, she said California has sought to fine Miller and to “stop her from doing any wedding cakes at all if she doesn’t do all the wedding cakes that the state wants her to do.”
Beyond the legal ramifications, Keim said her client has also faced threats of rape, hatred, and an endless stream of messages from people angry over her position. These attacks have also been waged against her staff, with California’s ongoing push against Miller helping drive the chaos, according to Keim.
As CBN News previously reported, Miller has spoken openly herself about the day she declined the cake — and everything else that followed.
“I prayed very hard, and I asked the Lord to give me wisdom,” Miller told CBN News in 2023. “And I just started visiting with them, and I told them I couldn’t do their cake … I said, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t hurt my Lord and Savior. I can’t participate in this union because … God says it’s a sacrament between a man and a woman.’”
These faith-based sentiments might not have shocked many who frequented the bakery, as Christian music often plays inside, with books and Bibles on display.
Miller also addressed the fact that she referred the couple to another person whom she described as “an amazing decorator” — a fellow baker who is part of the LGBTQ community and is married to another woman. In the past, this option worked well for customers in similar situations.
But this time was different.
“I was shocked, and I know they were upset, but I did not think that it would go this far,” Miller said. “I did not realize that, within two hours, we would be bombarded by hate mail, death threats, rape threats. The media was storming into our bakery.”
Watch Miller discuss:
As Keim and Becket seek to take the case to the Supreme Court, the attorney encouraged prayer for her client.
“Pray for Cathy … pray for the people around them that have stood with them through all of this persecution,” she said. “And if you have someone in your life who’s taking a stand for their faith … keep them in your prayers.”
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