The Trump administration has joined litigation against Washington state’s recently passed law that requires Catholic priests to report abuse confessions made in the confessional or risk excommunication.
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a complaint in intervention on Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington at Tacoma in opposition to the state’s Senate Bill 5375.
The complaint argues that SB 5375, scheduled to take effect on July 27, “unlawfully targets clergy and, specifically, Catholic priests” by requiring mandatory reporting of abuse for clergy, without exempting the confessional, which is supposed to be confidential.
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“The Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation, also known as Confession, is one of the seven Holy Sacraments of the Catholic Church. It is a sacred rite with roots that can be traced back to the origins of Catholicism,” reads the lawsuit, in part.
“The seal of confidentiality is, therefore, the lifeblood of Confession. Without it, the free exercise of the Catholic religion, i.e., the apostolic duties performed by the Catholic priest to the benefit of Catholic parishioners, cannot take place.”
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the DOJ Civil Rights Division said laws that “explicitly target religious practices such as the Sacrament of Confession in the Catholic Church have no place in our society.”
“Senate Bill 5375 unconstitutionally forces Catholic priests in Washington to choose between their obligations to the Catholic Church and their penitents or face criminal consequences, while treating the priest-penitent privilege differently than other well-settled privileges,” Dhillon said in a statement. “The Justice Department will not sit idly by when States mount attacks on the free exercise of religion.”
Signed into law by Democrat Gov. Bob Ferguson in May, SB 5375 was passed by the Democrat-controlled legislature largely along party lines, with the Senate approving it in a 28-20 vote and the House of Representatives passing it in a 64-31 vote.
SB 5375 adds clergy to a list of professionals required to report instances of child abuse or neglect to law enforcement, even if that report came through “privileged communication.”
“It’s long past time for this protection for children,” said Democrat Sen. Noel Frame of Seattle, the sponsor of the legislation, as quoted by The Washington State Standard in April.
“Members of the clergy play such an important role in the lives of children, like teachers and doctors do, and just like those other trusted adults, clergy should be mandatory reporters.”
Archbishop Paul Etienne of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle said in a statement that “priests cannot comply with this law if the knowledge of abuse is obtained during the Sacrament of Reconciliation.”
Etienne vowed that the archdiocese “remains committed to reporting child sexual abuse, working with victim survivors towards healing and protecting all minors and vulnerable people.”
“The line between Church and state has been crossed and needs to be walked back. People of every religion in the State of Washington and beyond should be alarmed by this overreach of our Legislature and Governor,” he added.
Last month, shortly after the bill passed, the DOJ launched a civil rights investigation into the state law, with Trump administration officials expressing constitutionality concerns.
The federal investigation was criticized by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a Wisconsin-based atheist advocacy organization that supported the state law.
“This law is about protecting children, not targeting religion,” said FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor in a statement released last month.
“Mandatory reporting laws are designed to prevent abuse from being hidden behind institutional secrecy. To suggest that clergy should be exempt from reporting child abuse is a gross distortion of religious freedom and a dangerous misreading of the First Amendment.”
