Supreme Court rules in favor of Wisconsin Catholic agency over religious exemption

WASHINGTON (OSV News) — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 5 unanimously ruled in favor of the Catholic Charities Bureau of the Diocese of Superior, Wisc., which had asked the high court to overturn a decision by the Wisconsin Supreme Court the agency argued discounted its religious identity.

The group previously appealed a ruling by the Wisconsin Supreme Court that Catholic Charities is not exempt from paying into the state’s unemployment insurance system because its operations aren’t primarily religious under the definition in the statute requiring certain employers to do so.

Wisconsin law states religious employers in the Badger State are eligible for an exemption from paying into its unemployment benefit program if they operate primarily for religious purposes. The state argued, however,