Supreme Court backs Catholic charities' discrimination claims

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Thursday that Wisconsin exercised religious discrimination against a group of charities run by a Catholic diocese in the state. The Catholic Charities Bureau sued the state after officials would not exempt the charities from paying into the Wisconsin unemployment tax program. The Catholic Charities Bureau argued that being run by a local diocese gave it religious exemption from paying unemployment taxes.

State attorneys meanwhile argued that, outside of its name, the charity functioned like any other secular 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, making it eligible for unemployment taxation. There were no faith requirements for the organization’s employees or recipients, and no evangelical programs or training to promote the charities’ faith, according to the state.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled in the state’s favor, alleging that the Catholic Charities Bureau did not meet the criteria to be considered an organization operating primarily for religious purposes. However, the Supreme Court’s Thursday decision overturned the lower court decision, agreeing that the charities were discriminated against.

What did the U.S. Supreme Court opinion say? The Wisconsin Supreme Court imposed a denominational preference by distinguishing between religions by theological lines, according to the court’s opinion penned by Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Neither Catholic Charities Bureau employees nor the charity recipients are required to ascribe to a particular faith, and program participants don’t receive religious training, Sotomayor noted. The charities don’t try to inculcate, or teach, participants with the Catholic faith, she explained.

However, the group was not considered a religiously motivated charity because it did not engage in proselytizing recipients or limit its services to only Catholics, the opinion continued. Catholic teachings bar practitioners from misusing charity works for the sake of proselytism, she noted. The government clearly distinguished among religions based on their theological differences, which doesn't stand up to judicial scrutiny, according to the opinion. The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s ruling is reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings that do not contradict this opinion, she wrote.

Dig deeper: Read Liz Lykins’ report on arguments made before justices in late March.