BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — Cathy Miller, owner of Tastries Bakery, is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear her case after nearly eight years of legal battles over denying to bake a cake for a same-sex couple.
- Cathy Miller, owner of Tastries Bakery in Bakersfield, Calif., has been in a legal battle since 2017 over her refusal to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple, citing her religious beliefs.
- California’s Supreme Court declined to review the case, prompting Miller to prepare a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court.
- Miller has until the end of August to file her petition. If accepted, the U.S. Supreme Court could hear the case later in 2025 or early 2026.
Cathy Miller, the owner of Tastries Bakery, has been embroiled in a legal battle for nearly eight years over her refusal to create a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. Now, with the California Supreme Court declining to intervene, she is preparing to take her case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“It’s been very difficult,” Miller said. “We’re, what, eight years into it?”
The case dates back to 2017, when Miller declined to make a custom wedding cake for a same-sex couple, citing her religious beliefs. The California Civil Rights Department, acting on behalf of the couple, filed a lawsuit against her, alleging discrimination based on sexual orientation.
In March, a California state appeals court sided with the Civil Rights Department, ruling that Miller’s refusal constituted unlawful discrimination.
“California has been prosecuting Cathy for eight years because she kindly and gently turned this couple away,” said Adele Keim, one of Miller’s attorneys.
Keim noted that the U.S. Supreme Court has previously ruled in favor of business owners in similar cases, including the high-profile Masterpiece Cakeshop decision in 2018. Miller’s legal team hopes the high court will now take up her case as well.
“We serve everyone at the bakery. We have several customers who are part of the LGBT community,” Miller said, adding that she refers same-sex couples to another local baker so they can still receive services while she maintains her religious convictions.
“We also have our constitutional rights. We also have our biblical faith,” she said.
Keim argued that the case is not about discrimination, but about religious freedom. “While California has been hammering her in court, comparing her to racists and accusing her of harming the dignity of all Californians Cathy has kept her bakery open and kept hope alive,” she said.
Miller has until the end of August to file a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court. If she does, California will have the opportunity to respond, and the justices could decide later this year or in early 2026 whether to hear the case.
“Hopefully there’s going to be a resolution soon,” Miller said. “The Supreme Court can set boundaries and give us guidance.”
Requests for comment from the couple involved in the lawsuit were not returned.
What began as a dispute over a wedding cake may soon land before the highest court in the country potentially setting a new precedent in the ongoing debate over religious liberty and LGBTQ rights.
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