Francesca Fiorentini and Sharon Reed discuss the new Catholic Charities Bureau SCOTUS case on The Damage Report.
“One of the Supreme Court’s very first actions after Republicans gained a 6-3 supermajority on its bench was a revolutionary decision expanding religious institutions’ right to seek exemptions from state laws. Since then, the Court has fairly consistently favored Christian litigants who seek such exemptions, or who raise other religious liberty-related claims (though it has not always shown the same sympathy to Muslims with similar claims).
That history means it’s hard to think of a litigant that’s more likely to win the sympathy of most of the justices than Catholic Charities, the party at the center of Catholic Charities Bureau v. Wisconsin Labor & Industry Review Commission. Catholic Charities seeks an exemption from Wisconsin’s law requiring employers to pay taxes that fund unemployment benefits. The Court announced Friday it will hear Catholic Charities.
It is likely that the Court will side with Catholic Charities. The more important question is how the Court might write an opinion ruling in Catholic Charities’ favor, as a too broad opinion could potentially have dire consequences — giving at least some companies legal grounds to mistreat workers, and to pick and choose which laws apply to them, and which don’t.”
Read more from Vox: A new Supreme Court case about religion has a hidden trap for workers
