On December 13, 2024, the Supreme Court accepted its first case involving religion in almost two years, Catholic Charities Bureau v. Wisconsin Labor & Industry Review Commission.
At issue in Catholic Charities is “[w]hether a state violates the First Amendment’s religion clauses by denying a religious organization an otherwise-available tax exemption because the organization does not meet the state’s criteria for religious behavior.”
In the underlying dispute the Supreme Court of Wisconsin affirmed an order that the aid the Diocese of Superior offered individuals with developmental and mental health disabilities through four sub-entities were not religious activities at the heart of the Church’s mission because staff members do not try to convert the needy to Catholicism. Accordingly, Catholic Charities had to pay unemployment taxes.
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