CNN
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The Supreme Court agreed Friday to take up its first major religious case in more than a year, deciding whether religiously affiliated organizations such as Catholic Charities should be exempt from state unemployment taxes.
Catholic Charities of Wisconsin told the high court that the state Labor Department’s denial of its request for unemployment tax relief violated the First Amendment.
The conservative Supreme Court’s ruling could have far-reaching implications if it also affects other types of taxes and religiously affiliated organizations such as hospitals and universities. According to Catholic Charities, 47 states and the federal government include unemployment tax exemptions for organizations operating for religious purposes.
“If the petitioners get their way, there could be repercussions in other areas,” said Patrick Elliott, legal director of the Religious Freedom Foundation, which filed a brief in state court against Catholic Charities. Ta.
In March, the Wisconsin Supreme Court sided with the state, ruling that Catholic charities are not eligible for religious tax exemption because they do not proselytize or participate in traditional religious activities. .
“Wisconsin’s rules are unreasonable and harmful,” the group, represented by the Beckett Fund for Religious Freedom, told the Supreme Court in its appeal. “This rule takes away resources that could otherwise be used to help the poor and needy.”
Catholic Charities is the social services arm of the Superior Diocese, a diocese of the Roman Catholic Church. The lawsuit also involves four “auxiliary organizations” that primarily serve people with disabilities.
Wisconsin officials countered that Catholic Charities has participated in the state’s unemployment insurance program since 1972. The state said those benefiting from the program “receive no religious training or orientation.” Employees are not required to ascribe to any faith.
“In some ways, the issue presented in the Wisconsin case is a very narrow one, suggesting only a connection between the Constitution and the statutory exemption from unemployment taxes for religious organizations in a single state,” CNN Supreme Court Analyst said. said Steve Vladeck, a professor at the list. Georgetown University Law Center.
“That being said, the fact that the court is agreeing to hear this case suggests that the court will likely have more questions about the scope of such state law exemptions and how they apply nationally. “It could be a sign that we want to consider it more generally,” Vladek added. “In any case, this case will be the most important religious freedom case to come under full review by the court in the past two years.”
The Supreme Court faced similar issues in the early 1980s, but resolved the two cases without reaching the underlying First Amendment issue. Since then, conservatives on the court have expanded protections for religious groups in a series of cases.
In 2022, a court struck down a ban in Maine on using public money to allow some students to attend schools with religious instruction. Two years ago, a 5-4 majority ruled that Montana’s scholarship program could not exclude religious schools.
The Supreme Court also agreed Friday to hear part of an oil and gas industry appeal challenging California’s ability to enact strict vehicle emissions standards that effectively set standards for the rest of the country. did.
The justices declined to take up the fundamental issue challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to exempt California from national emissions regulations, including whether the oil and gas industry has standing to sue. Agreed to consider the matter.
A federal appeals court ruled that California’s exemption didn’t apply because the industry couldn’t prove it had any real-world effects.
Given California’s size, automakers have for decades complied with the state’s stricter emissions regulations, which are allowed under a federal exemption from the EPA. States and fuel groups argued in a Supreme Court appeal this summer that the deal was illegal.
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California is moving faster than the EPA toward an all-electric vehicle future. The state’s air quality regulator voted in 2022 to set strict rules to ban the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035, and to set an interim goal to phase them out.
California’s decision has implications for the U.S. auto market, given the size of the state’s economy and the fact that more than a dozen other states are following its lead. In contrast to California, the Biden EPA will introduce more permissive vehicle emissions standards, allowing plug-in hybrid vehicles (vehicles that combine a gasoline engine with an EV-like battery) to play a larger role alongside EVs in the transition to electric vehicles. made it possible to accomplish this.
But the Biden administration pointed to a Washington, D.C., appeals court ruling earlier this year that dismissed most of the lawsuits, ruling that the plaintiffs lacked the capacity to sue. Part of the reason, the court reasoned, is that automakers are making their own transitions to electric vehicles based on market demand rather than government regulation.
The Biden administration told the Supreme Court that the exemption’s “practical effects would be significantly diminished by intervening market changes.”
President-elect Donald Trump could completely lift the exemption when he takes office in the new year. In 2019, the Trump administration rescinded California’s decades-old exemption. The Biden administration reinstated it in 2022.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
