Catholic Charities Asks Top Court for Religious Tax Break (1)

Wisconsin violated a Catholic charitable organization’s First Amendment rights by denying a tax exemption, applying a “cramped, idiosyncratic understanding of what constitutes ‘religious’ behavior,” the group told the US Supreme Court on Tuesday.

Wisconsin’s Labor & Industry Review Commission violated the establishment clause by determining Catholic Charities Bureau Inc.’s services were non-religious and therefore it and four subsidiaries didn’t qualify for an exemption from the state’s unemployment insurance system, the organization told the justices.

A split Wisconsin Supreme Court in 2024 ruled that a charity only qualifies for the exemption if it provides “typical religious activities” that aren’t provided by ...