DOJ Cracks Down on State Forcing Priests to Break Confession Seal [WATCH]

The Department of Justice has significantly increased its focus on defending religious liberty under the Trump administration, launching investigations, supporting legal protections for houses of worship, and addressing what officials describe as growing anti-Christian bias in the public sphere.

One of the DOJ’s latest actions includes the opening of a formal investigation into a newly signed Washington state law that compels clergy to report information related to child abuse or neglect, even when obtained in the confessional.

The law, signed Friday by Democratic Governor Bob Ferguson, specifically removes legal exemptions for “members of the clergy” in cases involving “privileged communication.”

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Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon responded on Monday, stating the law violates constitutional protections.

“Washington’s new law forces priests to choose between violating their faith or breaking the law,” Dhillon wrote on X. “That’s unconstitutional.”

Washington’s new law forces priests to choose between violating their faith or breaking the law. That’s unconstitutional. The @CivilRights Division has opened an investigation into SB 5375’s apparent attack on the First Amendment and religious liberty. We will not look away. https://t.co/t7Xt6Prpqo

— Harmeet K. Dhillon (@HarmeetKDhillon) May 5, 2025

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Bishop Thomas Daly of the Spokane Diocese affirmed that priests will uphold the seal of confession regardless of the law’s implications.

“Priests remain committed to keeping the seal of confession – even to the point of going to jail,” Daly said.

The DOJ’s action in Washington is part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to restore federal enforcement of religious freedom protections that officials say were sidelined in previous years.

In April, Attorney General Pam Bondi hosted a cabinet-level meeting of the Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias, which was established by executive order to coordinate efforts across the federal government.

In March, the DOJ also indicted an individual accused of setting fire to a Mormon church.

Andrea Picciotti-Bayer, a former DOJ civil rights attorney and current director of the Conscience Project, said these steps reflect a long-overdue shift.

“For far too long the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division ignored religious freedom and, at times, even was hostile to people of faith and churches,” Picciotti-Bayer told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“These key efforts show that this pattern and practice is ending.”

When you start putting people in jail for praying, it’s pretty clear who you’re actually working for. Paul Vaughn is facing 11 years in Biden’s prisons. pic.twitter.com/X54sysL5w0

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) March 26, 2024

The DOJ has also taken recent action under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), a federal law designed to protect religious institutions from discriminatory zoning practices.

In April, the Civil Rights Division filed statements of interest in cases involving an Islamic organization in New York and Christian churches in North Carolina and New Hampshire. Similar filings were made in March supporting churches in California and Pennsylvania.

The department launched its Place to Worship Initiative in 2018 to raise awareness about RLUIPA and increase enforcement.

In May 2024, then-Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke issued a letter to state and local officials reiterating their obligations under RLUIPA.

She highlighted that the law also applies to religious service facilities like homeless shelters and group homes, stating that early compliance could reduce the likelihood of litigation.

Jeremy Dys, senior counsel with First Liberty, noted that under Trump, the DOJ has filed more statements of interest in defense of religious land use in recent months than in the past decade combined.

“It’s one thing for Congress to pass a law like RLUIPA,” Dys told the DCNF. “It’s an entirely different thing for an administration like this to say, we take that seriously and want to see it enforced at the local level.”

Dhillon also signaled that the DOJ’s approach to prosecutions under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act would change.

From 1994 to 2024, only six FACE Act cases were brought against abortion activists, while 205 were brought against pro-life activists, according to a DCNF report.

“They are extreme on reproductive freedom.”

Meanwhile, over 50 pro-life organizations and centers have been attacked or vandalized since the Roe leak (according to @CatholicVote tracker). https://t.co/jKxIN8XCfk

— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) July 27, 2022

Following the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade, hundreds of churches and pregnancy centers were attacked, vandalized, or firebombed, yet few federal prosecutions occurred during the Biden-Harris administration.

“The FACE Act can be used to protect clinics where women get counseling about their options for abortion, and 200 of those have been violently attacked, firebombed, picketed and otherwise been obstructed over the last few years with zero action from the DOJ,” Dhillon said in a previous interview.

Under President Trump’s leadership, DOJ officials say a renewed emphasis on enforcing religious freedom laws will remain a top priority moving forward.

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