Supreme Court appears poised to side with Catholic Charities as string of religion test cases arrive

WASHINGTON − The Supreme Court on Monday delved into how to define a religious act as it weighed whether charities run by religious groups have to pay unemployment taxes for their workers.
“It’s kind of a big question,” Justice Amy Coney Barrett said when a lawyer for the Catholic Church encouraged the justices to think about “what is religion.”
That theological question is central to the case because Wisconsin said the social ministry arm of the Catholic diocese and four affiliates have to participate in the state’s unemployment benefits system because the work being performed is primarily secular, even if it’s motivated by religious belief.
There’s no religious instruction with the job training, placement and coaching offered to disabled people through the affiliates, the state said. Neither employees nor the people they serve have to be Catholic and Catholic Charities and their affiliates are incorporated separately from the diocese.