Supreme Court defers on gay rights dispute in Oregon

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday it would not decide, for now, whether a Christian couple from Oregon had a constitutional right to defy that state’s civil rights law and refuse to make a wedding cake for the marriage of two women.

Instead, the justices told an Oregon court to take a second look at their case based on last year’s high court ruling in favor of a Christian cake maker from Colorado.

Melissa and Aaron Klein refused to make a cake in 2013 for the marriage of two women. Oregon authorities fined them $135,000 for violating the state’s law that requires businesses to provide full and equal service for all customers, without regard to their race, religion or sexual orientation.

Had they prevailed, their case could have set a national precedent, giving conservative Christians a religious exemption from laws that bar discrimination based on sexual orientation or transgender status. There is no federal law that forbids discrimination based on sexual orientation, but Oregon, like California and 20 other states, prohibits such discrimination by businesses and employers.

Until now, the Christian business owners have lost in the courts. Judges have upheld the state civil rights laws and the principle of non-discrimination.

In the Colorado case, retired Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote an opinion that did not resolve how future cases would be decided. He endorsed equal rights for gays and lesbians but said the baker in that case had been subjected to religious “hostility” by a state commission.