The Trump DOJ has launched a federal civil rights investigation into a new Washington law that would jail priests unless they break the Seal of Confession, an excommunicable offense.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) -- The state of Washington is now under federal investigation for a newly signed law that orders priests to break the Seal of Confession by turning in penitents – or face jail time.
"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," Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon wrote in a news release on Monday.
"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," Dhillon stated.
Democrat Governor Bob Ferguson, a left-wing politician, signed the legislation on Friday, May 2, as first reported by LifeSiteNews.
Ferguson cited his alleged Catholic faith and his uncle, who was a Jesuit priest, in his comments justifying his decision to send government agents after priests who don't excommunicate themselves by revealing alleged abuse heard in Confession.
“My uncle was a Jesuit priest for many years, (I’ve) been to Confession myself – and so I’m very familiar with that,” Ferguson said during the signing. “I felt this was important legislation,” he added.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) notes the bill "singles out" priests, stripping them of their right to privileged communication.
The state's new law excludes clergy from a list of "supervisors," according to the DOJ, "who may not rely on applicable legal privileges, including religious confessions, as a defense to mandatory reporting."
"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," the DOJ announced.
Washington state senator Noel Frame, a left-wing Democrat, pushed for the bill. She, like Ferguson, cited her alleged Catholic faith in pushing for the bill, although she said she will not be raising her child in the faith. Frame has a history of supporting abortion and the LGBT agenda, although she claimed this issue of confessional privacy led her to back away from Catholicism.
During the debate over the bill, Frame berated Seattle Auxiliary Bishop Frank Schuster for explaining that he, and not even Pope Francis, could change canon law when it comes to confessional secrecy.
Canon 1386 states, “A confessor (priest) who directly violates the sacramental seal incurs a latae sententiae excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See; he who does so only indirectly is to be punished according to the gravity of the offence.”
Frame previously dismissed religious freedom concerns during a hearing. “I have tried really hard over the last couple of years to find a balance and to strike a careful compromise,” she claimed before saying “sorry” for not being willing to “make a compromise anymore.” She criticized efforts to protect clergy-penitent privilege “in the name of religious freedom.”
A similar effort to jail priests died in Montana this year, led by another left-wing female Democrat who said she has apostatized and no longer practices Catholicism.
Legal expert Jonathan Turley has previously criticized efforts by Democrats to violate the religious freedom rights of priests and lay Catholics.
Turley, who is Catholic, wrote "the Washington State law is a frontal attack on free exercise and would be struck down if enacted."
"The only question is why Democrats consider such legislation to be any more viable politically than it is constitutionally," the George Washington University professor wrote in February on his legal commentary website.
The Washington State Catholic Conference stressed its opposition to the bill and said its priests will not comply.
