National Implications | Decision Date: June 5, 2025
Catholic Charities Bureau, Inc. v. Wisconsin Labor & Industry Review Commission
In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court delivered a major win for faith-based organizations, ruling that the government cannot decide what makes a ministry “religious enough” to qualify for legal protections.
What You Need to Know
The state of Wisconsin denied Catholic Charities Bureau a religious exemption from unemployment insurance taxes, arguing that because the ministry serves people of all faiths and does not engage in proselytizing, it was not sufficiently religious. The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously rejected this flawed reasoning, affirming that genuine faith cannot be measured by who a ministry serves or how it expresses its beliefs.
Why This Matters
This ruling is a significant affirmation of religious freedom. It confirms that ministries have the constitutional right to define their mission and methods of service without government interference. Whether a ministry chooses to evangelize, serve, or do both, it remains protected under the First Amendment. Importantly, it limits the power of government agencies to impose their own theological interpretations when determining what qualifies as religious work.
This earlier review was published prior to the June 5 Supreme Court decision date, but goes into more detail.
Who gets to decide if your ministry is religious enough?
Catholic Charities Bureau, a diocesan nonprofit in Wisconsin, has faithfully served disadvantaged populations, including the disabled, elderly, and indigent, without proselytizing or restricting services to Christians. Yet the state of Wisconsin denied the nonprofit’s request for a religious exemption from its unemployment insurance program, asserting that its work isn’t “religious enough.” The state’s rationale is that the organization serves people of all faiths and doesn’t actively evangelize, thereby failing to meet government-imposed standards of religiosity. In this case, the lower courts upheld the state’s decision, agreeing that the organization did not meet the statutory criteria for a religious exemption because its services are broadly inclusive rather than expressly religious. The U.S. Supreme Court will now determine whether such a narrow definition of religiosity is constitutional. This decision could either affirm or erode the autonomy of faith-based organizations in defining their own religious mission and impact the scope of religious exemptions nationwide.
