WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday handed down a unanimous ruling in a religious rights case, finding that a Catholic charity in Wisconsin can’t be required to pay unemployment taxes when other religious groups are exempt.
The high court said the state’s tax decisions created an advantage for groups with a more overtly religious tone in their daily work, a violation of the First Amendment.
“It is fundamental to our constitutional order that the government maintain ‘neutrality between religion and religion,’” Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in the opinion. ”There may be hard calls to make in policing that rule, but this is not one.”
Wisconsin argued the Catholic Charities Bureau has paid the tax for more than 50 years and doesn’t qualify for an exemption because its day-to-day work doesn’t involve religious teachings. Much of the groups’ funding is from public money, and neither employees nor people receiving services have to belong to any faith, according to court papers.
Catholic Charities, though, said that it qualifies because its services to people who are disabled, low-income or elderly are motivated by religious beliefs and that the state shouldn’t be making determinations about what work qualifies as religious.
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represented the group, heralded the ruling as a major victory for religious liberty. “It was always absurd to claim that Catholic Charities wasn’t religious because it helps everyone, no …