Trump DOJ sues Washington over law requiring priests to violate seal of confession

Michie · Jun 24, 2025

The Trump administration has joined litigation against Washington state's recently passed law that requires Catholic priests to report abuse confessions made in the confessional or risk excommunication.

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a complaint in intervention on Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington at Tacoma in opposition to the state's Senate Bill 5375.

The complaint argues that SB 5375, scheduled to take effect on July 27, "unlawfully targets clergy and, specifically, Catholic priests" by requiring mandatory reporting of abuse for clergy, without exempting the confessional, which is supposed to be confidential.

Continued below.

Trump DOJ sues Washington over law requiring priests to violate seal of confession

The Trump administration has joined litigation against Washington state over a recently passed law that requires Catholic priests to report abuse confessions made in the confessional

www.christianpost.com

RileyG · Jun 24, 2025

Good! Leave the Churches alone, because confession is anonymous, anyway. Freedom of religion is freedom of religion.

Arcangl86 · Jun 25, 2025

RileyG said:
Good! Leave the Churches alone, because confession is anonymous, anyway. Freedom of religion is freedom of religion.

Freedom of religion isn't absolute. It can be restricted if there is a strong enough government interest.

Here is the relevant portion of the bill.

When any person, in his or her official supervisory capacity 2 with a nonprofit or for-profit organization, has reasonable cause to 3 believe that a child has suffered abuse or neglect caused by a person 4 over whom he or she regularly exercises supervisory authority, he or 5 she shall report such incident, or cause a report to be made, to the 6 proper law enforcement agency, provided that the person alleged to 7 have caused the abuse or neglect is employed by, contracted by, or 8 volunteers with the organization and coaches, trains, educates, or 9 counsels a child or children or regularly has unsupervised access to 10 a child or children as part of the employment, contract, or voluntary 11 service. ((No)) Except for members of the clergy, no one shall be 12 required to report under this section when he or she obtains the 13 information solely as a result of a privileged communication as provided in RCW 5.60.060.

This section already existed, but the waiver of privilege for clergy is new. But it only applies to that particular section, which refers only to people that one has a supervisory role over. I suspect it's meant to deal with situations like bishops moving priests who have been accussed and not reporting the accusations to law enforcement. It does seem broad enough it could cover confession, but that doesn't seem to be the intent. And btw, if you look at RCW 5.60.060, you would see that most of the privileges mentioned there already have exceptions for child abuse. So it appears to be a bill of general application that treats the clergy the same as anybody else in similar circumstances.

RileyG · Jun 25, 2025

Arcangl86 said:
Freedom of religion isn't absolute. It can be restricted if there is a strong enough government interest.

Here is the relevant portion of the bill.

This section already existed, but the waiver of privilege for clergy is new. But it only applies to that particular section, which refers only to people that one has a supervisory role over. I suspect it's meant to deal with situations like bishops moving priests who have been accussed and not reporting the accusations to law enforcement. It does seem broad enough it could cover confession, but that doesn't seem to be the intent. And btw, if you look at RCW 5.60.060, you would see that most of the privileges mentioned there already have exceptions for child abuse. So it appears to be a bill of general application that treats the clergy the same as anybody else in similar circumstances.

Confessions are still anonymous. The priest isn’t even supposed to know who is confessing anyway. Meaning, he’s not meant to bring it up again.

Face to face confession I think is relativity new.

Arcangl86 · Jun 25, 2025

RileyG said:
Confessions are still anonymous. The priest isn’t even supposed to know who is confessing anyway. Meaning, he’s not meant to bring it up again.

Face to face confession I think is relativity new.

The privilege law in Washington speaks of "confession or sacred confidence", which could be broader than just sacramental confession. Like would a priest under caonincal disicipline be public or is that confidential? That's a real question.

RileyG · Jun 25, 2025

Arcangl86 said:
The privilege law in Washington speaks of "confession or sacred confidence", which could be broader than just sacramental confession. Like would a priest under caonincal disicipline be public or is that confidential? That's a real question.

I’m no canon lawyer, but I know the seal of confession is absolute. Period.

jas3 · Jun 26, 2025

RileyG said:
Confessions are still anonymous. The priest isn’t even supposed to know who is confessing anyway. Meaning, he’s not meant to bring it up again.

Face to face confession I think is relativity new.

That's only applicable in Catholicism. Orthodox confession is not anonymous, but there is a similar understanding of the seal of confession.

Ancient Christian confession was done publicly in church, in front of everyone. That turned into private confession over time.

RileyG · Jun 26, 2025

jas3 said:
That's only applicable in Catholicism. Orthodox confession is not anonymous, but there is a similar understanding of the seal of confession.

Ancient Christian confession was done publicly in church, in front of everyone. That turned into private confession over time.

There’s no seal in the confessional in Orthodoxy? Meaning, if I wasn’t clear, it’s absolute?

jas3 · Jun 26, 2025

RileyG said:
There’s no seal in the confessional in Orthodoxy? Meaning, if I wasn’t clear, it’s absolute?

There is, and it is absolute: The Seal of Confession in Orthodox Canon Law: A Sacred Trust

What I meant was that confession in a confessional with a screen separating the priest from the person making his confession, where the priest can't see the person, is unique to Catholicism (and probably unique to its western rites, I would assume).

RileyG · Jun 26, 2025

jas3 said:
There is, and it is absolute: The Seal of Confession in Orthodox Canon Law: A Sacred Trust

What I meant was that confession in a confessional with a screen separating the priest from the person making his confession, where the priest can't see the person, is unique to Catholicism (and probably unique to its western rites, I would assume).

Ah, I understand. Thanks for the info!

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Trump DOJ sues Washington over law requiring priests to violate seal of confession

Michie

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