Summary of facts: Catholic Charities Bureau (CCB) sought a religious exemption from the state’s unemployment compensation system so that it could join the Wisconsin Bishop’s unemployment compensation plan. Under Wisconsin law, any non-profit “operated primarily for religious purposes” qualifies for this exemption. But the state court of appeals in this case held that CCB did not qualify because its “activities” (serving the poor, etc.) were primarily charitable, not religious. CCB appealed to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. That court upheld the decision of the lower court, holding that CCB is not operated primarily for religious purposes. CCB then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which held that Wisconsin had violated federal law by “impos[ing] a denominational preference by differentiating between religions based on theological lines.” The Court further recognized that “whether to express and inculcate religious doctrine through worship, proselytization, or religious education when performing charitable work are, again, fundamentally theological choices driven by the content of different religious doctrines.” Instead of complying with that decision, state officials went back to the Wisconsin high court seeking to eliminate the exemption entirely.

RFI’s position: To justify its novel remedy, the State argues that the U.S. Supreme Court found the exemption facially discriminatory and thus that striking the provision is justified. However, what the Court unanimously held was that the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s interpretation of the exemption violates the First Amendment as applied to CCB. Moreover, by repealing a valuable statutory exemption for an entire class of religious organizations while keeping the exemptions in place for secular organizations, the State’s proffered remedy would also violate the Constitution.

Read the brief here.