SEATTLE (WA)
Deseret News [Salt Lake City, UT]
July 18, 2025
By Mariya Manzhos
Federal Court temporarily blocked the state from enforcing the law that required clergy report child abuse by breaking the seal of confession.
A federal judge has halted a Washington state law that required Catholic priests to break the seal of confession.
The law that was passed in May, and was slated to go into effect on July 27, mandated that clergy must report child abuse or neglect when it was disclosed to them during confession.
“There is no question that SB 5375 burdens Plaintiffs’ free exercise of religion,” wrote Judge David G. Estudillo.
When clergy learn about child abuse or neglect in confession, the law “places them in the position of either complying with the requirements of their faith or violating the law,” the ruling said. The court also ruled that the state was “unable to explain why the language in [section 1-B] of the bill doubled down on singling out clergy.” In the Catholic tradition, the confession seal is “inviolable with absolutely no exceptions” and breaking it is considered a canonical crime.
Gov. Bob Ferguson signed the law on May 2. “Protecting our kids first is the most important thing. This bill protects Washingtonians from abuse and harm,” Ferguson said the day he signed the bill.
The law spurred several lawsuits, including the Department of Justice, the Catholic Bishops of Washington and a group of Orthodox churches.
According to the law, if the clergy failed to report abuse they learned about in confession, they could potentially face up to 364 days in jail and a $5,000 fine. Some Catholic priests said that the law required them to choose between breaking the sacred seal of confession and going to jail. At the heart of the issue is the case Etienne v. Ferguson, in which three Catholic bishops sued Washington State in May.
In Washington, clergy are already considered mandatory reporters, which means that they must report child abuse learned in any other setting. Confession is the only exception. “Across the Archdiocese of Seattle and the Dioceses of Spokane and Yakima, priests — and all Church personnel — are already required to report suspected abuse to law enforcement or child protection agencies,” according to a press release by the Becket Fund, which represented the bishops in the lawsuit. “These policies cover diocesan parishes, schools and other ministries. The Church supports mandatory reporting except in the narrow instance of the sacrament of confession.”
Religious liberty advocates and other leaders praised the federal court’s ruling. “For centuries, Catholic faithful around the world have sought reconciliation with God through the sacrament of confession,” said Jean Hill, executive director of the Washington State Catholic Conference, in a press release. “This ruling protects that sacred space and ensures that Washingtonians of all religious stripes can live out their beliefs in peace.”
Hiram Sasser, executive general counsel for First Liberty Institute, said that the First Amendment “did its work today in protecting the confessional” and he was proud that the church upholds the application of the reporting law outside of that context.
Government officials “have no business prying into the practice of confession,” said Mark Rienzi, president and CEO of Becket. “By protecting the seal of confession, the court has also safeguarded the basic principle that people of all faiths should be free to practice their beliefs without government interference,” he said in a press release.
On July 4, Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, submitted a legal brief in support of the bishops’ lawsuit, urging federal courts to halt a new state law. “Few religious practices are more misunderstood than the sacred seal of Confession in the Catholic Church,” Barron wrote. The law targets the “time-honored seal of Confession,” he wrote, thus violating the Constitution’s promise of religious neutrality. “Absolutely nothing ought to stand in the way of a sinner who seeks this font of grace.”