Supreme Court backs Catholic Charities in tax exemption case

A box of food from Catholic Charities donated to a family that has struggled with food insecurity. (Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/For The Washington Post)

By Ann E. Marimow

The Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously sided with a Catholic charity in Wisconsin, saying the state improperly discriminated based on religion when it denied the group a tax exemption.

The justices reversed a decision from the Wisconsin Supreme Court that found Catholic Charities ineligible for the same tax exemption that the Catholic Church receives because the group’s social services programs are not “operated primarily for religious purposes.”