CONSTITUTIONAL INTERPRETATIONS

June 5, 2025

The federal Constitution provides that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion . . . .” U.S. Const., Amendment I. It also provides that “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the . . . immunities of citizens of the United States . . . .” U.S. Const., Amendment XIV, Section 1. The State of Wisconsin enacted a law exempting religious organizations from the state’s unemployment tax on employers, but only if they were “operated primarily for religious purposes.” Wisconsin Statutes Section 108.02(15)(h)(2). The Wisconsin Supreme Court construed that statutory qualification to exclude, from the unemployment tax exemption, religious organizations whose religious practices do not follow the religious practices that are followed by other religious organizations. Catholic Charities Bureau v. State Lab. & Indus. Review Comm’n, 3 N.W.3d 666 (Wis. 2024). In Catholic Charities Bureau v. Wisconsin Labor Review Commission, (U.S.Sup.Ct.Slip Opinion of June 5, 2025), the United States Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment prohibits laws that discriminate between religious organizations on the basis of differences in their religious practices. Therefor the Court held that the Wisconsin exclusion from the state’s exemption from unemployment taxes, as specifically applied in this case by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, violated the Constitution.

Comment: I believe the Court’s unanimous Opinion faithfully followed the quoted text and a clearly evident purpose of the First and Fourteenth Amendments.

Dan D. Rhea