Supreme Court appears likely to side with Catholic Church and Trump in key religious exemption case

The Supreme Court appeared likely to side with a Wisconsin-based Catholic Charities group in its fight with the government over a state ruling it says “distorts” and “undermines” its mission of caring for the sick and poor.

The Trump Justice Department has filed a brief in support of the charity, arguing exemptions in federal tax laws, like the Wisconsin tax law, protect the rights of religious institutions.

The group, Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Superior, Wisconsin, is appealing a ruling by the Wisconsin Supreme Court that found that because it does not conduct “typical” religious activity, it is not exempt from the state’s costly unemployment payment program.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that a Wisconsin law exempting religious nonprofits from the program does not apply to the charity group, because it is not “operated primarily for religious purposes” and serves and employs non-Catholics and does not attempt to convert individuals, they said.

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Catholic Charities, however, argues that helping the disabled, elderly and those living in poverty — regardless of their faith — is a core tenet of their religious practice.

The group’s attorney, Eric Rassbach, with the religious liberty law firm Becket, argued during the hearing that Catholic teaching forbids Catholics from conditioning assistance on acceptance of the church’s teachings.

“The Wisconsin Supreme Court got it wrong when it interpreted a state-law religious exemption to favor what it called ‘typical’ religious activity and when it held that helping the poor can’t be religious, because secular people help the poor too,” he said.

The group is seeking to be exempt from the state’s unemployment compensation program so it can join the Wisconsin Catholic Church’s private program, which they say would save them more money than paying into the state program.

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In nearly two hours of often heated debate, a majority on the bench seemed to agree the state engaged in an unnecessary entanglement over defining whether Catholic Charities should be treated differently from other similarly situated secular groups.

Attorneys for Wisconsin faced intense questioning from the justices about the state entangling itself in religious doctrine and practice, thus violating the First Amendment by denying a religious organization an otherwise available tax exemption because the organization does not meet the state’s criteria for religious behavior.

“Isn’t it a fundamental premise of our First Amendment that the state shouldn’t be picking and choosing between religions,” questioned Justice Neil Gorsuch. 

“Doesn’t it entangle the state tremendously when it has to go into a soup kitchen, send an inspector in, to see how much prayer is going on?” he asked.

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Even some of the court’s liberal justices seemed to have concerns with Wisconsin’s ruling.

“There are lots of hard questions in this area,” said Justice Elena Kagan. “But I thought it was pretty fundamental that we don’t treat some religions better than other religions and we certainly don’t do it based on the contents of the religious doctrine that those religions preach.”

“The reason why we’re so worried about entanglement is because it gets us enmeshed in the content of religious doctrine,” she said.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett commented during the hearing that “the problem here is how to figure out what the line is.”

Alan Rock, executive director of the Catholic Charities Bureau, told Fox News Digital that following the hearing, he is “confident the Supreme Court will ensure our freedom to serve all those in need according to our Catholic faith.”

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“The state of Wisconsin said that our work isn’t religious. The state denied that our care for those in need is driven by our faith, simply because we serve everyone and do not try to convert those we serve. That view distorts the heart of our mission and undermines our ability to care for the most vulnerable,” he said, adding, “We look forward to the Court’s ruling.”

Speaking with Fox News Digital after the hearing, Bishop James Powers, head of the Catholic Diocese of Superior, said that Wisconsin is “punishing Catholic Charities for following this example of Christian love.”

“We do not help the needy because they are Catholic — we help them because we are Catholic,” he said. “The Good Samaritan did not ask about the wounded man’s faith: He simply saw a neighbor in need and responded with mercy. That is the model Catholic Charities has embraced since its founding.”