Wisconsin Catholic Charities says dispute over religious exemption is ‘simple’

NEW YORK – In a dispute over whether or not a religious exemption is warranted, a Wisconsin Catholic Charities Branch has argued to the U.S. Supreme Court that the case is “simple” given the defendant’s (State of Wisconsin’s) multiple violations of the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment.

In Catholic Charities Bureau v. Wisconsin Labor & Industry Review Commission, the Catholic Charities Branch of the Diocese of Superior is fighting a March, 2024, state Supreme Court ruling that the organization’s activities aren’t primarily religious, therefore denying it an exemption from paying into the state’s unemployment compensation program, and preventing it from joining the Wisconsin Bishops’ own unemployment compensation program.

The Catholic Charities Bureau petitioned to the U.S. Supreme Court in August, 2024, and the nation’s high court agreed to hear the case in December. The organization submitted a Merits Brief on Jan. 27, where it laid out its interpretation of how the state violated the Constitution.

“Wisconsin has denied Catholic Charities a religious exemption that the state freely extends to other religious organizations based on the absurd view that Catholic Charities’ aid to the needy isn’t actually religious at all,” the brief states. “The Religion Clauses of the First Amendment do not allow such a remarkable conclusion.”

“Instead, the Clauses work in tandem to protect a sphere of autonomy for religious organizations, to prevent entanglement of church and state, and to prohibit government discrimination among religious organizations,” the brief continues. “Wisconsin’s efforts to pick and choose among religious groups – and carve out works of mercy from the realm of the ‘religious’ altogether – thus violates the constitution three times over.”

Under Wisconsin law, as is the case in most states, churches and nonprofits that are operated for a religious purpose are generally exempt from paying into the state’s unemployment compensation program. For instance, the Diocese of Superior is exempt.

However, the diocese’s Catholic Charities Bureau is not. As outlined in the Merits Brief, that is because “under Wisconsin law, as definitively interpreted by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, Catholic Charities must show that its activities are sufficiently similar ‘in nature’ to whatever the state determines to be ‘typical’ religious activities.”

In the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s decision in March 2024, the majority ruled that the Catholic Charities Bureau’s work to help those in need may stem from Catholic teaching, but in fact it is secular work. The decision affirmed that of a lower court from a year earlier.

“In other words, they offer services that would be the same regardless of the motivation of the provider, a strong indication that the sub-entities do not ‘operate primarily for religious purposes,’” Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Ann Walsh Bradley wrote for the 4-3 majority.

As examples of Catholic Charities Bureau secular nature, the majority opinion goes on to highlight that employment with the organization and services offered by the organization are open to all regardless of religion, and that the organization does not proselytize, conduct worship services, religious outreach, or religious education.

The ruling didn’t just deny the Catholic Charities Bureau an exemption from paying into the state’s unemployment compensation program, but prevented it from joining the Wisconsin bishops’ own unemployment compensation program.

Catholic Charities Bureau is a registered nonprofit organization in Wisconsin and the social ministry arm of the Diocese of Superior, which has over 75,000 Catholics and covers about 15,000 square miles in northern Wisconsin. The organization has been operating since 1917.

The work of Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Superior mirrors that of other Catholic Charities branches nationwide. The organization, according to its website, helps people in the area with education in life skills, vocations and employment, housing, infant development, in-home nursing services, and independent living assistance.

“Catholic Charities Bureau answers Christ’s call to minister to the most vulnerable by caring for the poor, disabled, and elderly throughout the diocese and beyond,” Bishop James Powers of Superior said in a Jan. 27 statement. “We pray the Court recognizes that this vital work of improving the human condition lies at the heart of our duty as Catholics.”

The deadline to file an amicus brief – a legal document submitted to a court by a person or organization that is not a party in the case –  in support of the Catholic Charities Bureau is Feb. 3. The Wisconsin Labor & Industry Review Commission then has until Feb. 26 to file its response to the Merits Brief submitted on Jan. 27. Representatives for the Wisconsin Labor & Industry Review Commission did not respond to a Crux request for comment.

The most recent amicus brief filed was by the World Faith Foundation on Jan. 28, which stated that the Supreme Court should reverse the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s ruling because “Wisconsin has egregiously violated the doctrine of church autonomy by improperly entangling itself in religious questions about the nature of Catholic Charities Bureau’s activities.”

Since September, scholars, people and organizations of different faiths have filed similar arguments. That includes religious liberty scholars, the Catholic Conferences of Illinois, Iowa, Michigan and Minnesota; the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, the Jewish Coalition for Religious Liberty, the Wisconsin Catholic Conference, and the Society for Krishna Consciousness and the Sikh Coalition.

The Wisconsin State Legislature also filed a brief, arguing that the court shouldn’t decide the merits of an organization or entity receiving a religious exemption.

“The Legislature granted a religious exemption, and the court may not rewrite it – especially not in a way that violates religious organizations’ First Amendment rights,” the legislature argued Sept. 12.