Trump admin and Catholic priests secure victory against child abuse reporting law that would violate the confidentiality [View all]

Source: Law & Crime

Jul 18th, 2025, 4:26 pm


The Trump administration secured a victory for the confidentiality of the confessional booth as a federal judge temporarily blocked a recently-enacted anti-child abuse statute in Washington state.

In a 25-page order, U.S. District Judge David G. Estudillo, a Joe Biden appointee, issued a preliminary injunction that keeps mandatory reporting legislation passed this year from going into effect. Absent the court's order, SB 5375 would have become operative on July 27.

The law requires "any member of the clergy" who "has reasonable cause to believe that a child has suffered abuse or neglect" to "report such incident, or cause a report to be made, to the proper law enforcement agency." This directive updates a pre-existing law that applies to a large swathe of job titles like social workers, school personnel, nurses, law enforcement officers, psychologists, and more.

The plaintiffs – led by Paul D. Etienne, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Seattle – sued to enjoin the law in late May. Their 46-page original petition alleged a host of First Amendment violations – as well as violations of the 14th Amendment's guarantee of equal protection. The U.S. Department of Justice joined the fray with a motion to intervene in late June, specifically challenging the law in terms of its application to information learned in the confessional booth.

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