06/05/2025

SCOTUS Backs Catholic Charities in Tax Exemption Case

The court said its programs are primarily secular

Today, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) unanimously sided with a Catholic charity in Wisconsin, saying the state improperly discriminated based on religion when it denied the group a tax exemption.

The justices reversed a decision from the Wisconsin Supreme Court that found Catholic Charities ineligible for the same tax exemption that the Catholic Church receives because the group's social services programs are not "operated primarily for religious purposes."

Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the state court’s ruling violated the First Amendment by denying the exemption because the group does not proselytize or serve only Catholics through its charitable work.

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Washington Post.