Overview
- The Court unanimously held that Wisconsin’s denial of the unemployment tax exemption to the Diocese of Superior’s Catholic Charities Bureau violated the First Amendment’s free exercise guarantee
- Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s majority opinion ruled that government neutrality among religions bars states from using theological distinctions to grant or deny tax benefits
- Justice Clarence Thomas concurred in part, arguing the Wisconsin Supreme Court breached the church autonomy doctrine by treating Catholic Charities as separate from its controlling diocese
- Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson filed a separate concurrence stressing that exemption eligibility should depend on an organization’s religious affiliation rather than on the nature of its services
- The decision could encourage other religious nonprofits to challenge state unemployment tax rules and broaden access to faith-based exemptions