Justice Department intervenes on bishops’ behalf in challenge to Washington Confession law
June 26, 2025
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CWN Editor's Note: The US Department of Justice has filed a motion on behalf of the State of Washington’s bishops following the enactment of a law that requires priests to report child abuse about which they learn in the confessional.
Describing the law as “anti-Catholic,” the Justice Department said in a statement that the law “violates the free exercise of religion for all Catholics, and requires Catholic priests to violate the confidentiality seal of Confession.”
“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 Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department will not sit idly by when States mount attacks on the free exercise of religion.”
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