A federal judge is giving clergy members in Washington a win by placing on hold a law that would force them to violate the seal of confession or face jail. 

A federal district court judge, David Estudillo, blocked enforcement of the law as multiple lawsuits are pending against it. 

The law, Senate Bill 5375, requires priests to break the seal of confession if they learn of an incident of child abuse during the sacrament. Clergy members who do not comply with the reporting requirement face a penalty of up to 364 days in jail and a fine of up to $5,000.

Catholic priests who comply with the law would face excommunication, according to the Catholic Church’s Code of Canon Law. Clergy members in Orthodox churches can be kicked out of the priesthood if they break the seal of confession to report an incident of child abuse. 

The law, which was set to take effect on July 27, prompted a backlash from Catholic and Orthodox churches over concerns that it violates the free exercise clause of the First Amendment and the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. 

Opponents of the law note that it continues to exempt some other professions from the obligation to report, such as lawyers who learn of abuse from their clients, and argue that it discriminates against clergy members. 

More than half of the states in America list clergy as mandatory reporters of child abuse. However, all but New Hampshire and West Virginia carve out exemptions for confession. Washington’s law is unique in that it keeps in place the attorney-client privilege and similar privileges for other professions.

In a post on X, the Washington State Catholic Conference said that priests over the centuries “have been imprisoned, tortured, and even killed for upholding the seal of confession. Penitents today need the same assurance that their participation in a holy sacrament will remain free from government interference.”

“We hope the court protects the sacredness of confession and upholds our nation’s promise of religious freedom for all Washingtonians,” the conference said. 

Groups of Catholic and Orthodox churches that filed lawsuits against the law say they do not oppose reporting child abuse, but ask to be allowed to continue to withhold information learned during confession.

The Department of Justice also filed a motion to intervene in the lawsuit brought by Catholic bishops. The assistant attorney general in charge of the department’s Civil Rights Division, Harmeet Dhillon, said in a statement, “Laws that explicitly target religious practices such as the Sacrament of Confession in the Catholic Church have no place in our society.”

A Democratic state senator who sponsored the legislation, Noel Frame, suggested to NPR that churches could “change their rules” to let clergy members comply with the law without facing disciplinary actions.