Supreme Court sides with Catholic Charities in case over unemployment taxes

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court says a Catholic charity in Wisconsin doesn’t have to pay unemployment taxes in one of a set of religious-rights cases the justices are considering this term.

The Thursday ruling comes in a case filed by the Catholic Charities Bureau. The organization says the state violated the First Amendment’s religious freedom guarantee when it required the organization to pay the tax while exempting other faith groups.

Wisconsin argues the organization doesn’t qualify for an exemption because its day-to-day work doesn’t involve religious teachings. Also this term, the court deadlocked on public funding for religious schools and is still weighing a case over religious objections to books in schools.