Feds seek to block WA law requiring clergy to report child abuse
The Trump Administration moved Monday to join a legal fight to overturn a new Washington law requiring religious leaders to report child abuse or neglect even when it is disclosed in confession.
A motion filed in federal court by the Department of Justice argues the law, which takes effect next month, is unconstitutional because it “deprives Catholic priests of their fundamental right to freely exercise their religious beliefs, as guaranteed under the First Amendment.”
“The punishment for directly violating the sacramental seal of Confession is excommunication. A more direct burden on the exercise of religion would be difficult to imagine,” federal attorneys wrote in their motion to intervene in a case brought by Washington bishops last month.
That case is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.
https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2025/06/23/feds-seek-to-block-wa-law-requiring-clergy-to-report-child-abuse/
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