Trump DOJ investigates Washington state law requiring priests to divulge contents of confessions

On Monday, the Department of Justice announced it has opened a civil rights investigation into the "development and passage" of a new law in Washington that requires members of the clergy to report confessions of child abuse or neglect for First Amendment violations that has been called "anti-Catholic."

According to the DOJ, Washington State Senate Bill 5375, which was signed into law on May 2, 2025, by Democratic Governor Bob Ferguson, “appears on its face to violate the First Amendment.”

The agency noted that the new law adds “members of the clergy” to a list of other professionals who are required to report information received in a confessional setting relating to child abuse or neglect to law enforcement or other state authorities, with no exception for the absolute seal of confidentiality that applies to Catholic priests.

Additionally, 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 Justice Department said in a statement, “The Civil Rights Division will investigate the apparent conflict between Washington State’s new law with the free exercise of religion under the First Amendment, a cornerstone of the United States Constitution.”

“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.

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

At the time the bill was under consideration in April, Rep. Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen warned that the bill violated Article I, Section 11 of the Washington State Constitution by compelling clergy to break the sacred trust of confession while offering several key amendments to protect religious freedom, and called it a dangerous erosion of constitutional rights and a threat to the foundational principles of justice.