Latest news with #religiousexemption
Reuters
5 days ago
- Politics
- Reuters
US Supreme Court backs Catholic group's bid for Wisconsin unemployment tax exemption
WASHINGTON, June 5 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday backed a bid by an arm of a Catholic diocese in Wisconsin for a religious exemption from the state's unemployment insurance tax in the latest ruling in which the justices took an expansive view of religious rights. The 9-0 ruling overturned a lower court's decision that had rejected the tax exemption bid by the Catholic Charities Bureau - a nonprofit corporation operating as the social ministry arm of the Catholic diocese in the city of Superior - and four entities that the bureau oversees. At issue was whether Wisconsin's denial of the tax exemption violated the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment guarantee of free exercise of religion, as well as its separation of church and state. Under Wisconsin's unemployment insurance program, the state collects taxes from employers and uses the revenue to provide a temporary source of income to eligible jobless workers. "The First Amendment mandates government neutrality between religions and subjects any state-sponsored denominational preference to strict scrutiny," liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote for the court. The Wisconsin court's decision "imposed a denominational preference by differentiating between religions based on theological lines," Sotomayor added. The federal government and all states exempt certain religious entities from having to pay into unemployment insurance programs. Most of these laws, including Wisconsin's, require that organizations be "operated primarily for religious purposes" to be eligible for a religious exemption. The Wisconsin Supreme Court in 2024 rejected the tax exemption bid by Catholic Charities Bureau and its subsidiaries. Although the groups "assert a religious motivation behind their work," that court found, their activities were "primarily charitable and secular" and thus were not "operated primarily for religious purposes." The Catholic Charities Bureau since 1917, it said on its website, has provided "services to the poor, the disadvantaged, the disabled, the elderly and children with special needs as an expression of the social ministry of the Catholic Church in the Diocese of Superior." The Catholic Charities Bureau and its subsidiaries do not require their employees to be of any particular religion, nor do they seek to instill Catholic beliefs in those receiving their services. Among the subsidiary groups involved in the case are organizations that provide services to people with disabilities including job placements and training, as well as daily living services and home visitation, according to court papers. During the Great Depression, Wisconsin in 1932 became the first U.S. state to enact an unemployment compensation law. Three years later, Democratic U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt signed into law the landmark Social Security Act of 1935 that established, among other programs, a cooperative federal-state unemployment insurance plan that would eventually lead to all U.S. states enacting their own unemployment relief programs. The Supreme Court, with its 6-3 conservative majority, has taken an expansive view of religious rights in a series of rulings in recent years. In May, however, the court in a 4-4 ruling blocked a bid led by two Catholic dioceses to establish in Oklahoma the nation's first taxpayer-funded religious charter school in a major case involving religious rights in American education. In 2017, the court in a Missouri case ruled that churches and other religious entities cannot be flatly denied public money based on their religious status - even in states whose constitutions explicitly ban such funding. In 2020, it endorsed Montana tax credits that helped pay for students to attend religious schools. In 2021, the court ruled in favor of a Catholic Church-affiliated agency that sued after Philadelphia refused to place children for foster care with the organization because it barred same-sex couples from applying to become foster parents. In 2022, it backed two Christian families in their challenge to a Maine tuition assistance program had excluded private religious schools. Also in 2022, it ruled that a Washington state public school district violated the rights of a Christian high school football coach who was suspended for refusing to stop leading prayers with players on the field after games.
CBS News
24-05-2025
- Health
- CBS News
Groups sue over West Virginia governor's order on religious exemptions for school vaccines
Two groups filed a lawsuit Friday over an executive order by West Virginia Republican Gov. Patrick Morrisey granting religious exemptions from required school vaccinations. The American Civil Liberties Union's West Virginia chapter and Mountain State Justice filed the lawsuit against the state Department of Health, its Bureau for Public Health and agency leaders on behalf of two parents in Kanawha County Circuit Court. The vaccine exemption was among several executive orders issued by Morrisey on his first full day in office in January. "Governors do not rule by decree," ACLU-West Virginia legal director Aubrey Sparks said in a statement. "At the center of this lawsuit is who gets to make these decisions for our students. On this question, the state Constitution is clear that the authority lies with the Legislature, not the governor." The governor's office and the Department of Health did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment Friday on the lawsuit. Morrisey's order upended a school vaccination policy long heralded by medical experts as one of the most protective in the country for kids. State law requires children to receive vaccines for chickenpox, hepatitis B, measles, meningitis, mumps, diphtheria, polio, rubella, tetanus and whooping cough before starting school. The state does not require COVID-19 vaccinations. Legislation that would have allowed religious exemptions to vaccination requirements, among other things, was passed by the state Senate and rejected by the House of Delegates earlier this year. State schools Superintendent Michelle Blatt issued a memorandum to all 55 county superintendents May 2 recommending that students not be allowed to attend school in the 2025-26 without required immunizations. But that same day, Blatt rescinded the memo at Morrisey's request, according to the lawsuit. Morrisey later issued a statement saying he had no intention of rescinding the executive order. He said parents can apply for a religious exemption from vaccinations through the Bureau for Public Health. Last year, Republican then-Gov. Jim Justice vetoed a less sweeping vaccination bill passed by the Republican-supermajority Legislature that would have exempted private school and some nontraditional public school students from vaccination requirements. Morrisey, who served as West Virginia's attorney general from 2013 until he was sworn in as governor, said he believes religious exemptions to vaccinations should already be permitted under a 2023 law passed by the state Legislature called the Equal Protection for Religion Act. The law stipulates that the government can't "substantially burden" someone's constitutional right to freedom of religion unless it can prove there is a "compelling interest" to restrict that right. Morrisey has said that law hasn't "been fully and properly enforced" since it passed. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Dr. Joshua Hess of Cabell County and Marisa Jackson of Kanawha County. It said Hess has a child who is immunocompromised and that Jackson has a child who, because of decreased community use of immunizations, is more susceptible to illness. Along with Mississippi, West Virginia is the U.S. state with the worst health outcomes and lowest life expectancy rates. "Parents should be able to know their child will be safe when they send them off to school," said Mountain State Justice executive director Sarah Brown. "We are seeing the devastating effects of loosening vaccine requirements across the country, and that's why the Legislature wisely declined to loosen the restrictions here in West Virginia. It's vital that their decision not be undermined by the executive branch."
Washington Post
23-05-2025
- Health
- Washington Post
Groups sue over West Virginia governor's order on religious exemptions for school vaccines
CHARLESTON, — Two groups filed a lawsuit Friday over an executive order by West Virginia Republican Gov. Patrick Morrisey granting religious exemptions from required school vaccinations. The American Civil Liberties Union's West Virginia chapter and Mountain State Justice filed the lawsuit against the state Department of Health, its Bureau for Public Health and agency leaders on behalf of two parents in Kanawha County Circuit Court.
Associated Press
23-05-2025
- Health
- Associated Press
Groups sue over West Virginia governor's order on religious exemptions for school vaccines
CHARLESTON, (AP) — Two groups filed a lawsuit Friday over an executive order by West Virginia Republican Gov. Patrick Morrisey granting religious exemptions from required school vaccinations. The American Civil Liberties Union's West Virginia chapter and Mountain State Justice filed the lawsuit against the state Department of Health, its Bureau for Public Health and agency leaders on behalf of two parents in Kanawha County Circuit Court. The vaccine exemption was among several executive orders issued by Morrisey on his first full day in office in January. 'Governors do not rule by decree,' ACLU-West Virginia legal director Aubrey Sparks said in a statement. 'At the center of this lawsuit is who gets to make these decisions for our students. On this question, the state Constitution is clear that the authority lies with the Legislature, not the governor.' The governor's office and the Department of Health did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment Friday on the lawsuit. Morrisey's order upended a school vaccination policy long heralded by medical experts as one of the most protective in the country for kids. State law requires children to receive vaccines for chickenpox, hepatitis B, measles, meningitis, mumps, diphtheria, polio, rubella, tetanus and whooping cough before starting school. The state does not require COVID-19 vaccinations. Legislation that would have allowed religious exemptions to vaccination requirements, among other things, was passed by the state Senate and rejected by the House of Delegates earlier this year. State schools Superintendent Michelle Blatt issued a memorandum to all 55 county superintendents May 2 recommending that students not be allowed to attend school in the 2025-26 without required immunizations. But that same day, Blatt rescinded the memo at Morrisey's request, according to the lawsuit. Morrisey later issued a statement saying he had no intention of rescinding the executive order. He said parents can apply for a religious exemption from vaccinations through the Bureau for Public Health. Last year, Republican then-Gov. Jim Justice vetoed a less sweeping vaccination bill passed by the Republican-supermajority Legislature that would have exempted private school and some nontraditional public school students from vaccination requirements. Morrisey, who served as West Virginia's attorney general from 2013 until he was sworn in as governor, said he believes religious exemptions to vaccinations should already be permitted under a 2023 law passed by the state Legislature called the Equal Protection for Religion Act. The law stipulates that the government can't 'substantially burden' someone's constitutional right to freedom of religion unless it can prove there is a 'compelling interest' to restrict that right. Morrisey has said that law hasn't 'been fully and properly enforced' since it passed. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Dr. Joshua Hess of Cabell County and Marisa Jackson of Kanawha County. It said Hess has a child who is immunocompromised and that Jackson has a child who, because of decreased community use of immunizations, is more susceptible to illness. Along with Mississippi, West Virginia is the U.S. state with the worst health outcomes and lowest life expectancy rates. 'Parents should be able to know their child will be safe when they send them off to school,' said Mountain State Justice executive director Sarah Brown. 'We are seeing the devastating effects of loosening vaccine requirements across the country, and that's why the Legislature wisely declined to loosen the restrictions here in West Virginia. It's vital that their decision not be undermined by the executive branch.'
