Buckeye Reporter

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, alongside 18 other state attorneys general, has filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court challenging a decision by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The ruling in question allows government intervention in defining religious versus nonreligious practices, which Yost and his colleagues argue infringes upon First Amendment rights.

Yost stated, "The power to define religion is the power to destroy it," emphasizing that the Constitution protects against government interference in religious matters. He added, "Our Constitution guards against government interference on religion, and few maneuvers are as intrusive as the government taking it upon itself to define religious practice."

The case involves a 2024 ruling by the Wisconsin Supreme Court denying Catholic Charities Bureau an exemption from unemployment taxes. Although Wisconsin law generally exempts religious nonprofits from such taxes, the court ruled that Catholic Charities Bureau's activities were not sufficiently religious. This determination was partly because their services are available to all individuals regardless of faith and could be offered by secular organizations.

The attorneys general argue that this decision violates constitutional protections: “The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s decision to determine what constitutes religious practice — and exclude acts of charity — is a governmental intrusion that violates both the First Amendment’s establishment and free-exercise safeguards as originally understood.”

They further warn of the precedent set by this ruling: “If any religious activity, no matter how deeply rooted in doctrine and practice, becomes secular the moment the nonreligious adopt it, then no religious exercise is safe from government regulation.”

Attorneys general from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia have joined Yost in filing this brief.