Colorado baker who sparked Supreme Court case has book deal

NEW YORK — The Colorado baker whose refusal to design a wedding cake for a gay couple led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling and made him a conservative hero now has a book deal.

Jack Phillips’ memoir, currently untitled, will be released this summer by Salem Books Publishing. Salem Books is a Christian evangelical imprint of Regnery Publishing that announced the book Thursday and is calling it “a firsthand account of his experience on the front lines” of a cultural battle between religious and secular forces.

Phillips, who runs the Masterpiece Cakeshop in suburban Denver, became known nationally in 2012 after he cited religious objections in declining the request of two men who wanted a cake celebrating their marriage. The couple filed a complaint with the state’s civil rights commission, which ruled that Phillips should not have refused service.

The baker appealed his case all the way to the Supreme Court, which in 2018 voted 7-2 that the commission violated Phillips’ rights under the First Amendment. The court did not rule on the larger issue of whether businesses can invoke religious objections to refuse service to gays and lesbians.

The Associated Press