Religious Institutions Update: October 2025

Key Cases

Free Exercise

Unemployment Compensation Tax Exemption Unconstitutionally Applied

In Catholic Charities Bureau, Inc. v. Wis. Labor & Indus. Rev. Comm'n, 145 S.Ct. 1583 (2025), the Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Commission determined that Catholic Charities Bureau, Inc. and other charitable entities supervised by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Superior did not qualify for the religious employer exemption from paying taxes into the state's unemployment compensation system because they were not operated primarily for religious purposes. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the state unconstitutionally differentiated between religions along theological lines and, thus, practiced denominational discrimination by insisting that the exemption required eligible organizations to "engage in proselytization or serve only co-religionists." Catholic teaching forbids conditioning works of charity on proselytism. "A statute that excludes religious organizations