Masterpiece of Legal Reasoning From Penn Professor

The U. S. Supreme Court ruled that the owner of Masterpiece Cakes does not have to make wedding morsels for same sex ceremonies if he doesn’t want to. Amanda Shanor, an assistant professor at the Wharton School at Penn does not agree.

At an Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) event recently, the assistant professor of legal studies and business ethics, argued that businesses should be required to provide for same sex-weddings. She said, “There was a hard limiting principle at play in Masterpiece.” She argued that Phillips’ free expression would not be threatened if he had to service the gay wedding, and that although he can choose to make certain types of cakes he has to give those which he does create to anyone who wants them.

She wondered if this ruling could entail interracial couples or divorced people being refused service in the future. She argued that Phillips’ free expression would not be threatened if he had to service the gay wedding, and that although he can choose to make certain types of cakes he has to give those which he does create to anyone who wants them.

She claimed that in prior cases the Court ruled that people could not do whatever they wanted in their businesses, saying: “In all of these cases the Court has rejected the principle that you have an unlimited right to decide who you choose to engage with in the basic economic endeavors of our society.”

The cases she mentioned included Heart of Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States(Supreme Court), Newman v. Piggie Park Enterprises, Inc.,(Supreme Court) and Hishon v. King and Spalding(Eleventh Circuit). Yet and still, it should be noted, those cases involve food, shelter and job promotions, not wedding cakes.

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