The Wisconsin Catholic Conference (WCC), the public policy voice of Wisconsin’s Catholic bishops, celebrates today’s victory for the Diocese of Superior Catholic Charities Bureau (CCB) at the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The Wisconsin Supreme Court this morning ordered that CCB and its sub-entities are “eligible for the religious purposes exemption to unemployment taxation under Wis. Stat. § 108.02(15)(h)2.”
This victory is the result of years of litigation to allow Catholic Charities to receive an already available statutory religious exemption. In March 2024, the Wisconsin Supreme Court (SCOWIS) ruled that CCB was not exempt in part because it serves all people—not just Catholics. The State of Wisconsin suggested that CCB could qualify for an exemption if it conditioned its service to those in poverty by trying to proselytize, even though the Catholic Church teaches against this.
However, in June 2025, the United States Supreme Court (SCOTUS) reversed Wisconsin’s ruling in a 9-0 decision. The Court unanimously held that Wisconsin had violated the First Amendment when it determined that CCB was not operated “primarily for a religious purpose.”
After SCOTUS reversed and remanded the case, SCOWIS ordered full briefing on the proper remedy. The State of Wisconsin argued that SCOWIS could either grant CCB the exemption or consider nullifying the religious exemption altogether. CCB, however, insisted that SCOTUS was clear: the State violated the First Amendment in the first place. Thus, CCB argued the proper remedy was for it to receive the exemption. Today, SCOWIS agreed with CCB’s remedy and ordered that CCB be declared eligible for the statutory religious exemption.
David Earleywine, WCC Associate Director for Education & Religious Liberty, celebrated the decision stating: “After decades of fighting for a statutorily available religious exemption, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has affirmed the religious liberty of the Diocese of Superior Catholic Charities Bureau. As the WCC has previously stated, true Catholic charity is inherently religious and cannot be reduced to another secular social service.”
Catholic Charities Bureau and all of its sub-entities can now participate in the Church Unemployment Pay Program (CUPP), which is the Wisconsin Catholic bishops’ unemployment program. CUPP provides unemployment benefits that the U.S. Supreme Court recognized are “largely equivalent to the state system.”
The WCC is deeply grateful to all the attorneys at Becket and Gibson Dunn who have represented both CCB and the WCC in this case.
