and second nights, 20 democratic candidates taking that stage. you can watch it here on msnbc, on nbc and telemundo. breaking news today with the supreme court this morning declining to decide whether an oregon baker can refuse on religious grounds to prepare a cake for a same sex wedding. the justices sent the case back to state courts to decide. pete williams has the details. pete, what does this mean for now? what does this decision, what s the real impact? i m not sure, frankly, because it s a win for at least in the short term for this bakery in oregon that refused to bake a cake for a lesbian commitment ceremony. the baker said it would violate the religious beliefs of him and his wife, the owners of this sweet cakes by melissa bakery, you re looking at jack phillips, the person who was involved in the supreme court case two years ago. and in that case the supreme court, without deciding the merits of the case sent it back to colorado because some
lesbian commitment ceremony. the justices have wiped out the lower court rulings against t bakers. they are sending it back for another round of hearings. one of several big decisions we are waiting for this term. melissa murray, nyu law professor who served as law clerk to justice sotomayor. pete williams is in the court now. i know the second any more news comes out, we will have him in front of a camera. this brings back memories for folks involving a baker in colorado who refused to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding. what does this mean? i m not sure that i would call it a victory for the bakery owner. what the court has said this they want the lower courts to go back and to reconsider this case in light of the court s ruling from last year. in that case the court, in a narrow ruling, said the tribunal that initially heard the request
at the poor people s moral action congress presidential forum. more coverage on velshi & ruhle next hour. final weeks of the term. justice correspondent pete williams joins us with details on noteworthy cases. pete, take us through these two critical rulings, the first regarding that oregon baker. yeah. this is a bit of a surprise. a bakery in oregon that refused to make a cake for a lesbian commitment ceremony. owners of the bakery said that would violate their religious beliefs, that their cakes are inherently expressive. that it would violate their freedom of expression. they lost when the state sued them, in the lower courts. they appealed to the supreme court. and today the supreme court wipe ed out those lower court rulings against them. that is a partial victory for them. but it also sent the case back to the lower courts with instructions to re take another look at the case in light of the supreme court s ruling two years ago in an almost identical case from
wedding cake. it s interesting masterpiece cake shop, his bakery also at one point refused a cupcake order from lesbians when they found out they were going to use it to celebrate their commitment ceremony. this is an instance where the user base collapsed into each other. not a specific design like a halloween cake that he s unwilling to sell. he s unwilling to sell to same-sex couples at all. what if they came in and said we want a cake with two grooms on top of it. he said, i will sell you the cake but not the two grooms on top of it. would that be a stronger case? that would be a much zraurng case. that the supreme court has this week. he would not discuss any cake at all. professor are we about to discuss policy that would apply not only to the baker but also the florist, to the khal cal
they found it they were going to use it to celebrate their commitment ceremony. this is one where the use-based distinction and the user-based distinction collapse into each other. it s not a specific design that he s unwilling to sell. he s unwilling it to same-sex couples at all. what if they come in and they said, we want a wedding cake with two grooms on the top of it and he said i ll sell you the cake, but i m not putting the two grooms on top. would that have been a stronger case? i think that would have been a much stronger case, but that s not the case that the supreme court has before it this coming week. he would not sell them any wedding cake at all, wouldn t even discuss designs with them. professor, are we about to establish policy that will apply not only to the baker, but also to the florist, to the caligrapher. maybe the wedding band. the band gets hired and they say we don t want to play a wedding dance for a same-sex couple. will the supreme court be able to art