(Updated to include quotes from First Liberty Institute Senior Counsel Ken Klukowski.)

Aaron and Melissa Klein are fighting back against a ruling that could cost them $135,000 for refusing to bake a cake.

On Monday, attorneys with First Liberty filed an appeal to overturn a decision by the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) that declared the Kleins violated a state law that makes it illegal to decline service on the basis of sexual orientation. The owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa had turned down a lesbian couple who wanted a cake for a same-sex “marriage” ceremony.

In a press release, First Liberty argued that several of the Kleins’ rights were violated by the decision, including those related to speech, religious liberty and due process. “In America, you’re protected by the Constitution and you’re also innocent until proven guilty,” stated Kelly Shackelford, President and CEO of First Liberty Institute. “[BOLI] Commissioner Brad Avakian decided the Kleins were guilty before he even heard their case.”

The Kleins said that while they had served and hired same-sex attracted individuals, including one of the women who sued, baking the cake would violate their religious beliefs about marriage. “The Kleins have always served a diverse and broad clientele,” First Liberty Institute Senior Counsel Ken Klukowski told The Stream. “They served these women in the past and would be happy to serve them again. They simply did not want to help celebrate an event that directly contradicts their faith – namely, a same-sex wedding.”

According to Klukowski, “This is the first time the Kleins’ have filed a brief with a court of any kind, the Oregon Court of Appeals. The case will be appealed through the Oregon state courts.”

The BOLI order against the Kleins last summer was upheld by a judge, and the couple was also ordered to not publicly discuss their views on sexuality and marriage.However, their troubles didn’t end with the decision — Klukowski explained that “in December 2015, the government seized the Kleins’ personal bank accounts. The Kleins are attempting to live and work in Oregon, where they have abandoned their bakery dream and are trying to get by as best they can.”

News hasn’t been all bad for the Kleins, whose business was forced to close. They became a cause célèbre for social conservatives, raising more than $350,000 through online crowdfunding.

BOLI Decision Failed on Three Levels, Claims Attorney

According to Klukowski, BOLI “interpreted the law in a way that not only violates the Constitution, but that also makes no sense.” Avakian also showed a lack of impartiality and bias in a way that violated equal treatment under the law, says the Klein’s attorney:

Commissioner Avakian granted media interviews about the Kleins before he heard their case. He did so knowing he would likely decide their case, as he acknowledges in these interviews. Courts have repeatedly held that authorities who are about to decide cases may not give the impression they have already made up their minds. Real judges would never do this, because it would plainly violate their codes of ethics.

In an interview about the Kleins, Commissioner Avakian stated that there is “one set of rules for everybody,” i.e., with no exceptions. In another, he spoke about this case, stating that “ regardless of one’s religious belief, if you open up a store, and you open it up to the public to sell goods, you cannot discriminate in Oregon . . . .”  He also stated, in another interview about this case, that persons who have traditional beliefs one marriage need to be “rehabilitate[d].” He said all this before rendering a decision in the Kleins’ case.

The First Liberty brief describes the $135,000 fine as “excessive.” Klukowski explained further that it “is grossly excessive by BOLI’s own standards.”

“The penalty exceeds damages ordered in cases where people were threatened with a firearm, physically assaulted, and suffered ongoing sexual harassment,” he continued. “It was based in part on testimony that even BOLI’s own administrative judge found not credible. The award also included amounts that were sought for media interviews, even though BOLI acknowledges that the law prevents any damages from such media stories.”