Update: Justice Department sues Washington over ‘anti-Catholic’ child abuse reporting law

Update: Justice Department sues Washington over ‘anti-Catholic’ child abuse reporting law

News Story by Cassy Benefield  | FāVS News

UPDATE: On Monday (June 23), the U.S. Department of Justice filed a legal action against Washington over the state’s updated child abuse reporting law for clergy and spiritual leaders. This took place 50 days after the DOJ opened its investigation over the constitutionality of the law.

“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,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department will not sit idly by when States mount attacks on the free exercise of religion.”

The Department’s motion to intervene in Etienne v. Ferguson is pending before the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.

SB 5375 will take affect July 27.

The U.S. Justice Department announced Monday (May 5) it opened a civil rights investigation into the passage of Washington State Senate Bill 5375, signed into law on May 2 by Gov. Bob Ferguson. The stated reason, according to the press release, is that it violates the First Amendment.

“SB 5375 demands that Catholic priests violate their deeply held faith in order to obey the law, a violation of the Constitution and a breach of the free exercise of religion cannot stand under our Constitutional system of government,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in a press release. 

Washington State’s new law, going into affect July 27, adds back into their code “members of the clergy” to the list of mandatory reporters, which was removed in 1975. It also does not include clergy-penitent privilege to private conversations if child abuse or neglect come up in the conversation including the Catholic confessional.

The press release states this law is “anti-Catholic” and applies to communications received in the “absolute seal of confession that applies to Catholic Priests.”  

However, the law doesn’t focus only on Catholics. It also would make Independendant Fundamental Baptist pastors and leaders, Jehovah’s Witnesses elders, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints leaders, Protestant church leaders and spiritual counselors of all kinds accountable to report child abuse and neglect, including child sexual abuse, to authorities even if the conversation was considered private.

The Justice Department’s press release goes on to say the “new law singles out ‘members of the clergy’ as the only ‘supervisors’ who may not rely on applicable legal privileges, including religious confessions, as a defense to mandatory reporting.”

“The law appears to single out clergy as not entitled to assert applicable privileges, as compared to other reporting professionals,” Dhillon said. “We take this matter very seriously and look forward to Washington State’s cooperation with our investigation.”

Supporters of the bill argue SB 5375 doesn’t single out clergy.

“We believe … certain aspects for the new law are being misconstrued,” said Sharon Huling, member of the Clergy Accountability Coalition. “‘All members of the clergy’ will be required to report credible knowledge of child abuse. Catholics are not the only religion who have used Washington’s loophole in the law to avoid reporting child abuse.”

Huling adds that members of the clergy still will not be required to testify in court when it comes to the safety of a child.

What makes the Catholic Sacrament of Confession unique among religions is it forbids priests from breaking this seal of confession as part of their Canon Law. If they do, they will be excommunicated. 

The Washington Revised Section of Code that SB 5375 will modify for clergy is RCW 5.60.060, which describes what is considered “privileged communications.”

Mandatory reporters like doctors, mental health counselors and domestic violence advocates already have their privileged communication removed in cases of child abuse and neglect or when there is suspicion of imminent harm to an individual.

“We believe that the law will be upheld as constitutional as the Washington State religious freedom clause clearly states that ‘Absolute freedom of conscience in all matters of religious sentiment … but the liberty of conscious hereby secured shall not be construed as to excuse acts of licentiousness or justify practices inconsistent with the peace and safety of the state,’” Huling said.