By WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Friday to hear a bid by an arm of a Catholic diocese in Wisconsin for a religious exemption from the state’s unemployment insurance tax in a case with potential implications for constitutional religious rights.
The justices took up an appeal by the Catholic Charities Bureau, the social ministry arm of the Catholic diocese in the city of Superior, of a lower court’s decision rejecting its exemption bid. A Supreme Court ruling in favor of the bureau could require Wisconsin and states with similar tax programs to broaden their exemptions in order to comply the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment religious protections.
The Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments in the case and rule by the end of June.