Earlier this month, Townhall covered how President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice began investigating a law passed in Washington state that threatens Catholic priests with up to one year in jail if they do not report child abuse that they learn of during the sacrament of Confession.
This law requires Catholic priests to break the seal of Confession. This rule in the Catholic Church mandates that priests, as well as anyone who overhears someone's confession, never disclose that information. The law attacking this was signed off by Democratic Gov. Bob Ferguson this month.
Previously, the Archdiocese of Seattle issued a statement in response to the law, vowing to excommunicate priests who comply with the law.
That’s not all. This week, Catholic bishops from the state of Washington filed a lawsuit challenging the controversial law.
The Pillar was the first outlet to report on this lawsuit:
The May 29 lawsuit argues that the new law violates First Amendment religious freedom protections, as well as the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and the Washington constitution.
“Confession offers the faithful a confidential space to seek God’s mercy and guidance. This trust is sacred, and any law that jeopardizes it risks discouraging those who recognize the harm they have caused from seeking moral guidance,” said Jean Hill, executive director of the Washington Catholic Conference, in a statement.
The suit argues that the law constitutes religious discrimination, because it demands that priests violate the norms of the Catholic Church to adhere to the reporting requirements, while at the same time explicitly exempting multiple other groups from those requirements.
It accuses the new legislation of “[p]utting clergy to the choice between temporal criminal punishment and eternal damnation, interfering with the internal governance and discipline of the Catholic Church, and targeting religion for the abrogation of all privileges.”
Additionally, the lawsuit reportedly states that three Catholic dioceses in Washington have abuse reporting policies that go beyond what the law requires.
The lawsuit lists Gov. Ferguson, state Attorney General Nicholas Brown (D), and many local prosecutors as defendants. Religious liberty law firms Becket and the First Liberty Institute and law firm Wilmer Hale are representing Washington’s bishops. The lawsuit was filed in Tacoma District Court.
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