Supreme Court to hear Catholic Charities case against state of Wisconsin over ‘non religious’ designation

 The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Dec. 13 to review the case of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Superior against the state of Wisconsin. The charitable organization appealed to the nation’s highest court after the state Supreme Court ruled in March that Catholic Charities be declared “non religious” and subject to paying the state’s employment tax. 

As CatholicVote previously reported, the Aug. 9 appeal came after the state court’s March 14 ruling that blocked the Catholic non-profit from opting out of the state’s unemployment compensation program to join a “better” program offered by Wisconsin’s Catholic bishops.

The state court ruled that Catholic Charities was not exempt from the state’s unemployment compensation program “because it serves everyone, not just Catholics.” 

“Wisconsin is trying to make sure no good deed goes unpunished,” said Eric Rassbach, vice president and senior counsel at Becket in a Dec. 13 press release. “Penalizing Catholic Charities for serving Catholics and non-Catholics alike is ridiculous and wrong. We are confident the Supreme Court will reject the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s absurd ruling.”  

According to Becket Law, the state court said that Catholic Charities could qualify for an exemption only if it limited its hiring to Catholics and tried to convert those it served — even though the Catholic Church forbids Catholics from conditioning assistance on acceptance of the Church’s teachings. 

In its petition to the Supreme Court, Becket Law challenged the court to consider whether the state violates the organization’s religious freedom by denying it “an otherwise-available tax exemption because the organization does not meet the state’s criteria for religious behavior.” 

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