The Catholic Charities organization in Wisconsin has won a major victor at the state’s Supreme Court. The court blocked officials’ attempt to force nonprofits that operate primarily for religious purposes to pay state unemployment taxes.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court declined to throw out Wisconsin’s religious exemption from the state’s unemployment insurance system and instead ruled that Catholic Charities is entitled to the exemption.
As CBN News reported in June, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the Catholic Charities Bureau of the Diocese of Superior after the organization argued the state violated the First Amendment’s religious freedom guarantee when it required it to pay unemployment taxes while exempting other faith groups.
Under Wisconsin law, nonprofits that operate primarily for religious purposes are generally exempt from the state’s unemployment compensation program.
But state officials argued the organization didn’t qualify for an exemption because its day-to-day work doesn’t involve religious teachings.
However, the Catholic Charities Bureau, which serves in 16 counties in the state, argued it was religiously motivated to care for the poor, the elderly, and the disabled and the state shouldn’t make determinations about what work qualifies as religious.
In an unanimous ruling, the nation’s high court ruled that Wisconsin violated federal law by imposing a “denominational preference by differentiating between religions based on theological lines.”
According to the non-profit legal group Becket Fund, the U.S. Supreme Court also recognized that the expression of “religious doctrine through worship, proselytization, or religious education when performing charitable work are, again, fundamentally theological choices driven by the content of different religious doctrines.”
“The Court resoundingly reaffirmed a fundamental truth of our constitutional order: the First Amendment protects all religious beliefs, not just those the government favors,” said Eric Rassbach, vice president and senior counsel at Becket, after the ruling.
However, instead of complying with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul still asked the state’s high court to eliminate the exemption entirely to establish “equal treatment.” Becket then asked the court to stop the maneuver in its tracks.
“You’d think Wisconsin would take a 9-0 Supreme Court loss as a hint to stop digging,” Rassbach said in a press statement Monday. “But apparently Attorney General Kaul and his staff are gluttons for punishment.”
On Monday, the Wisconsin Supreme Court reaffirmed that Catholic Charities “is eligible for the religious purposes exemption.”
Attorneys at Becket are applauding the high court’s ruling.
“Wisconsin should have taken the L,” said Rassbach. “Attorney General Kaul never should have doubled down on punishing churches. The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s order today protects not just Catholic Charities, but every faith-based organization that relies on this exemption to serve the public. It turns out that penalizing charities is not a winning legal strategy.”
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