Sweet Cakes by Melissa Case

A Bakery Opens and a Dream Comes True

In 2007, Aaron and Melissa Klein opened a family bakery, in Gresham, Oregon, called “Sweet Cakes by Melissa,” specializing in custom-designed, artistically crafted cakes. Opening the bakery was a “dream come true” for Melissa, who had always loved to express herself creatively.

Aaron and Melissa operated Sweet Cakes as an expression of their Christian faith.

The Kleins chose to create wedding cakes, in part, to celebrate marriages, which their faith taught them to view as the sacred union of one man and one woman. They were happy to serve everyone who entered the shop but would not create any cakes with messages that conflicted with their faith, such as cakes with profanity, cakes celebrating divorce, or cakes advocating harm to others.

In 2013, Aaron and Melissa were asked to make a custom-designed wedding cake to celebrate a same-sex wedding. As devout Christians, Aaron and Melissa believed that crafting a cake to celebrate the wedding would send a message of support for the wedding in violation of their faith. For this reason, they declined to create the custom wedding cake.

The Government Devastates the Kleins’ Business

In response, the State of Oregon brought the full force of law down on the Kleins. It imposed a financially devastating penalty of $135,000 against the Kleins and issued a gag order against them, restricting the Kleins’ freedom to talk about their beliefs in public.

To make matters worse, the Kleins’ case – and punishment – was overseen by a biased commissioner who made statements online and in media interviews clearly indicating he had prejudged the Kleins as guilty before their case came before him.

He accused the Kleins of using religion as “an excuse” for their actions and said they needed to “learn from [the] experience” and be “rehabilitate[d].”

The commissioner’s penalty—along with an internet-orchestrated boycott campaign against the bakery—forced Aaron and Melissa to close Sweet Cakes. “Having to shut down the bakery was devastating,” Melissa said. “Our family had worked so hard to build it. To watch it just disappear—it crushed me. I felt like I’d lost a part of myself.”

The closure was especially painful because the Kleins had planned to pass the bakery down to their children. The closure of the bakery resulted not only in the loss of their “second home,” but their legacy. Almost ten years later, Melissa says she still misses the bakery “every day.”

The trauma the Kleins experienced from losing the bakery was worsened as hostile media outlets hounded the Kleins for interviews and anonymous attackers vandalized their property, broke into their home, and made expletive-laced death threats against the Kleins and their five children.

The Supreme Court Weighs In

Aaron and Melissa appealed the commissioner’s ruling to the Oregon Court of Appeals in April 2016. The Oregon Court of Appeals upheld the decision, though it reversed the gag order. First Liberty Institute and the Honorable Boyden Gray of Boyden Gray & Associates asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case.

In June 2019, the Court vacated the Oregon Court of Appeals’ decision and sent the case back to the state to be reviewed in light of the recently decided Masterpiece Cakeshop. In Masterpiece Cakeshop, the Supreme Court reminded the state that government officials must provide “neutral and respectful consideration” of all religious claims. Governments may not engage in religious discrimination against citizens, even if they disagree with the citizens’ beliefs.

By vacating the Oregon ruling, the Court showed it is serious about combating the anti-religious hostility frequently committed by state actors, such as the Oregon commissioner. The Court also reaffirmed an essential principle of due process: everyone is entitled to a fair trial before an unbiased judge.

Oregon Tries to Have its Cake and Eat It, Too

In January 2022, the Oregon Court of Appeals concluded that the Oregon commission violated the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause by failing to act neutrally toward the Kleins’ religion. The court struck the $135,000 damages award because of the Free Exercise violation. Nevertheless, the court still contended that the Kleins had violated the law and sent the case back to the same biased Oregon commission for further proceedings.

“Oregon is trying to have its cake and eat it, too,” said Stephanie Taub, Senior Counsel for First Liberty.  “The Court admits the state agency that acted as both prosecutor and judge in this case was biased against the Kleins’ faith. Yet, despite this anti-Christian bias that infected the whole case, the court is sending the case back to the very same agency for a do-over. It’s time for the State of Oregon’s hostility toward Aaron and Melissa to end.”

In July 2022, without ordering a new hearing, BOLI reduced the damage award from $135,000 to $30,000. The Kleins continue to seek full and final vindication of their First Amendment rights.

The Kleins Go Back to the Supreme Court

In September 2022, First Liberty attorneys announced asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Klein’s case.

In June 2023, the Supreme Court vacated the lower court rulings against the Klein, and return the case once again to the state.

“It’s a win when the Supreme Court vacates a bad lower court decision like it did for Aaron and Melissa today, but the case is not over,” said Kelly Shackelford, President, CEO, and Chief Counsel to First Liberty.  “The Kleins have been fighting for the First Amendment for over a decade and we will stand with them no matter how long it takes to get the victory they deserve.”

In January 2024, the Oregon Court of Appeals again heard oral argument.

“Freedom of speech has always included the freedom not to speak the government’s message,” said Stephanie Taub, Senior Counsel to First Liberty Institute “The First Amendment protects all Americans, of different perspectives and beliefs, to not be forced to use their art to send a message with which they disagree.”

Melissa said, “We welcomed and served everyone in our bakery, but we could not endorse all messages. We lost everything we loved and worked so hard to build. We just want to be able to run our business without being forced to celebrate events that conflict with our religious beliefs.”