(The Center Square) – The U.S. Department of Justice is suing Washington state over a new law, Senate Bill 5375, which makes clergy members mandatory reporters of child abuse and neglect, even when such information is disclosed in confession.
The confessional privilege is a long-standing legal protection that allows clergy to keep confidential any information shared during a confession.
The DOJ’s lawsuit argues that SB 5375 violates the First Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment by denying the free exercise of religion.
“Laws that explicitly target religious practices such as the Sacrament of Confession in the Catholic Church have no place in our society,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, in a news release. “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. The Justice Department will not sit idly by when States mount attacks on the free exercise of religion.”
The DOJ says it is intervening in Etienne v. Ferguson, a lawsuit filed in May by Catholic bishops in Washington over the new law.
The Catholic Church sees the new law as an attack on the seal of confession.
“The Catholic Church agrees with the goal of protecting children and preventing child abuse,” Seattle Archbishop Paul Etienne said in a news release last month, just two days after Gov. Bob Ferguson signed SB 5375 into law. “The Archdiocese of Seattle remains committed to reporting child sexual abuse, working with victim survivors towards healing, and protecting all minors and vulnerable people. Our policies already require priests to be mandatory reporters, but not if this information is obtained during confession.”
Olympia-based Citizen Action Defense Fund supports the lawsuit.
“Frankly, all of us here at CADF are glad that this law is coming under legal scrutiny and being challenged,” CADF Director of Communications and Operations Paige Jaramillo said in an email. “Freedom of religion and conscience are vital, and it makes no sense to treat the privilege of confessing to a priest differently than the privilege a patient has when speaking with a therapist.”
Proponents contend SB 5375 is essential in ensuring no institution is above the law when it comes to protecting children from abuse.
“We assert that child sexual abuse most definitely runs afoul of ‘public morals’ and that the government has a compelling interest to discover this crime in order that our children can be protected,” Sharon Huling, spokesperson for the Clergy Accountability Coalition, emailed The Center Square. “After all, if abuse is not known, it cannot be stopped. Washington state citizens overwhelmingly support putting the safety of children first. We cannot understand why the Justice Department or any religious leaders would not agree.”
Marino Hardin of Seattle, who was raised as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Spokane, worked to pass the law on behalf of abuse victims.
“I’m very proud that Washington has finally passed mandatory reporting for clergy, and joined the five leading states that don’t allow exceptions for reporting child abuse,” he emailed The Center Square last month.
New Hampshire, West Virginia, Indiana, New Jersey and North Carolina have laws requiring all individuals to report suspected child abuse or neglect, regardless of their profession or any other factor – that is, exemptions or privileges like those for clergy-penitent relationships are recognized.
On June 16, several Orthodox churches filed a federal lawsuit against Washington over SB 5375.
