Supreme Court sides with Catholic Charities in religious freedom case

The Supreme Court unanimously ruled Thursday that Wisconsin violated the Constitution by forcing a Catholic nonprofit organization to pay into the state’s unemployment insurance program, delivering a win for religious liberty advocates and narrowing how far states can go in defining what counts as “religious.”

In an opinion authored by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the high court found that the Catholic Charities Bureau of the Diocese of Superior qualifies for a religious exemption under state law, rebuking the state’s argument that the organization’s social services are too “secular” to merit protection.