going to come up here in just a second from our team did an absolutely great job. she was peppered with a lot of questions. i think the court heard from four able lawyers, but i believe at the end of the day we have a very good chance of prevailing in this case, but it's going to be close. the court paid a lot of attention to it, and i expect to see a very vigorous discussion among the judges coming out in their opinions. kristin? [inaudible conversations] >> hi. good morning. it's my privilege to be here with jack and stand for him. my name -- [inaudible] i have a little flower shop this richmond, washington. and we've been in business more a long time. i have asked the supreme court to also take our case. i have owned my flower shop for many years, and it has been my privilege to be in the community and be a third generation of -- [inaudible] that come in for flowerings. i try to work my business according to my faith, to be kind and loving to all types of people. one of the gentlemen who is suing me has been my customer for over ten years. i've cuts come created -- custom created designs for rob for manier yahoo!s. -- for many years. i came to view rob more as a friend than a customer: rob has been in my store, and i thoroughly enjoy working with him. because of my faith when rob came into the store to ask, or to talk to me about his same-sex wedding, i referred him to three other florists which i knew would do him a good job. i never turned down rob because of who he was. i declined to celebrate an event that goes against my faith. if i saw rob tomorrow if he walked in my shop, i would hug him, catch up on his life and wait on him for another ten years. because of my faith, the attorney general from washington state is and the aclu are suing us. we could lose everything we have that we've saved to give our children and our grandchildren. simply because i believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. but to lose everything we have, our home, our retirement, our life savings simply because i referred a longtime customer for one event. jack and i are here standing not just for us, but for all of -- peacefully to work consistently with your conscience, and if the government can come in and tell you what to do or they will destroy you, then we do notly in a free america -- do not live in a free america. thank you. >> good morning. >> good morning. >> i'm jack phillips, the owner of masterpiece cake shop. i serve all who walk through my doors, people from all walks of life. i've spent many years honing my craft as a cake artist combining baking with my love of sculpting, painting and sketching. and i love my craft because i get to turn a cake into a canvas where i get to express ideas, celebrate events and bring joy to my community. one of my favorite parts of my job has always been creating wedding cakes. designing them and creating them allow me to use my artistic vision to create works of art that are beautiful and distinctive, ask they mark the -- and they mark the beginning of something sacred. though i serve everyone who comes into my shop, like many other trader professionals, i don't create custom designs for events or messages that conflict with my conscience. i don't create cakes for halloween, promote sexual or anti-american themes or disparage people including people who identify as lgbt. for me, it's never about the person, never about the person making the request, it's always about the cake. it's always about the message the person wants the cake to communicate. i'm here at the supreme courted the because -- supreme court today because i respectfully declined to create a custom cake that would celebrate a view of marriage in direct conflict with my faith's core beliefs. i offered to create a design on a cake for any other occasion. for that decision, which was guided by an established set of religious beliefs, i've endured a five-year court battle. it's been very hard on me and my family. there have been many tears and many difficult, many difficult days for us. i've had to stop creating the wedding art that i love, i've faced death threats and harassment. stopping the wedding art has cost us much of our business, so much so that now we are struggling just to make ends meet and keep the shop afloat. it's hard to believe that the government is forcing me to choose between providing for my family and my employees and viling my relationship with -- violating my relationship with god. that is not freedom. that is not tolerance. i'm profoundly thankful to the united states supreme court for taking my case, and i hope and pray that it will affirm the freedom of artists to peacefully express themselves in ways consistent with who they are. thank you. >> [inaudible] [laughter] >> i can stand on my tiptoes. thank you. my name is crusten wagner -- kristin wagner, and i argued on behalf of jack phillips today. what a great privilege it was to stand on his behalf and on behalf of all creative professionals and their right to be able to speak and live consistent with their belief on this particular summit is. jack phillips loves and serves everyone, and that same religious faith that inspires him also insures that he doesn't create cakes that express messages that violate his conscience. colorado's position was so extreme today that it said that the state could actually compel all kinds of artists -- filmmakers, photographers, graphic designers -- who are paid to express messages that violate their core identity. this court has never, never compelled artist thetic expression or political or ideological expression, and if it does so now, we will have less stability, less pluralism and less diversity in our society. as justice kennedy suggested today during the argument, tolerance requires respect for those with whom we disagree, and colorado has neither been toll ranker nor respectful -- tolerant, nor respectful of mr. phillips. for that reason we asked the court to reverse the lower court's decision. thank you. >> i have a question. do you think that the -- [inaudible] >> i think it's hard to know where justice kennedy is at. i don't want to speck hate on that. speculate on that. i was pleased to know, though, that the court is considering both sides of this issue and that dignity cuts both ways. mr. phillips has a great amount

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