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MADISON, Wis. (CN ) — The Wisconsin Supreme Court decided on Thursday that a group of nonprofit organizations affiliated with a Catholic diocese are not exempt from paying the state unemployment insurance tax. In a 4-3 decision split along ideological lines, the court’s liberal majority found that Catholic Charities Bureau and its subentities cannot avoid paying the tax because they are not “operated primarily for religious purposes,” a phrase in state law that the case’s controversy revolves around. The bureau and the subentities — Barron County Developmental Services Inc., Diversified Services Inc., Black River Industries Inc. and Headwaters Inc., specifically — unsuccessfully argued such a finding violates religious protections in the First Amendment and the Wisconsin Constitution. Writing for the majority, Justice Ann Walsh Bradley said “both the motivations and activities” of an organization must be examined to determine if they are exempt from the unemployment tax. She said analyzing the bureau and its subsidiaries in this way reveals they are not operated primarily for religious purposes, even if they are supervised and controlled by a Roman Catholic diocese. In an emailed statement, Eric Rassbach, the senior counsel and vice president of the Washington-based Becket Fund for Religious Liberty […]