News media reporting on yesterday's Supreme Court arguments in Catholic Charities Bureau, Inc. v. Wisconsin Labor & Industry Review Commission indicate that the Justices seemed to favor Catholic Charities position that it is unconstitutional to deny it the religious organization exemption in Wisconsin's unemployment compensation law. NPR reported in part:
The U.S. Supreme Court appeared openly doubtful on Monday about Wisconsin's refusal to exempt Catholic Charities from making payments into the state's mandatory unemployment system....
Monday morning's argument started out with some hard questions for Catholic Charities. Justice Elena Kagan asked, "Are you saying … that a group that comes in and says, 'We are a religious group doing religious activities for religious purposes,' qualifies no matter what? That there's no looking behind that at all?"...
If the justices seemed skeptical of the charity's opt-out position, both liberal and conservative justices seemed downright hostile to the state's assertion that Catholic Charities, which serves and employs people of all faiths, and doesn't allow proselytizing, is just like any other non-profit employer and is thus required to pay into the state's unemployment tax system.
Wisconsin assistant solicitor general Colin Roth faced constant interruptions from the bench, but managed to say that the standard imposed by the Wisconsin Supreme Court is that charities may be exempt from paying taxes if their activities involve worship, or religious proselytizing, or religious education. Catholic Charities fulfills none of those functions, he said....
