U.S. top court to hear baker's religious objection to making cake for gay couple

FILE PHOTO - A figure of a child holding an open book decorates a flagpole at the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, U.S. on October 5, 2014. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide a major case on whether business owners can refuse to service gay couples if they oppose same-sex marriage on religious grounds involving a Christian baker in Colorado who declined to make a wedding cake for two men.

The court took up an appeal by Jack Phillips, a baker who runs Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, just outside Denver, of a state court ruling that his refusal violated a Colorado anti-discrimination law. Phillips contends the law violated his rights to freedom of speech and free exercise of religion under the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment.