The official position of the U.S. government is that cake is a form of speech, according to a Thursday brief.
The U.S. Department of Justice filed an amicus (or “friend-of-the-court”) brief Thursday in the marquee religious freedom case of the upcoming Supreme Court term. The case concerns a Christian baker in Colorado named Jack Phillips, who declined to create a wedding cake with a pro-LGBTQ message for a gay couple planning their nuptials. Among other things, the Department argues that wedding cakes are a form of creative expression, and individuals cannot be coerced into expression with which they disagree.
“A custom wedding cake is a form of expression, whether pure speech or the product of expressive conduct,” the brief reads. “It is an artistic creation that is both subjectively intended and objectively perceived as a celebratory symbol of a marriage.”
The high court agreed to hear the dispute in June, though the case has not yet been scheduled for argument. The Supreme Court will reconvene from its summer recess Oct. 2.
The Roberts Court has taken an extremely capacious view of the First Amendment, finding that videos depicting violence against animals and the Westboro Baptist Church’s protests of military funerals are protected forms of artistic and political expression.
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