Legal Issue(s): NA
Case Description
Catholic Charities Bureau (CCB) won a decisive victory over Wisconsin at the U.S. Supreme Court after being denied a religious exemption from unemployment tax.
The dispute began in 2016 when CCB applied for but was denied Wisconsin’s religious exemption because the state argued the services CCB offered were secular in nature (CCB’s mission to serve and aid the poor and disadvantaged), serving people of all faiths without explicit evangelism efforts. In other words, the state was defining what counted as religious expression and what doesn’t. The Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld the state’s position, sending the case to the US Supreme Court.
The unambiguous 9-0 ruling flatly reversed this decision as a clear violation of the First Amendment’s prohibition on government establishing or favoring a religion. States may not engage in line drawing, picking what they perceive as valid religious expression. Our Center for Law & Religious Freedom filed an amicus brief that argued the merits using this legal reasoning.
This represents a significant religious freedom victory, all the more so with all nine justices agreeing.
