Washington judge denies state attorney general’s subpoena against Seattle archdiocese

“To be very clear: we are not seeking to cover up the sins of the past,” Seattle Archbishop Paul Etienne emphasized. “We acknowledge that sexual abuse occurred; it is tragic and heartbreaking. We want abusers to be held accountable and we wish to dispel the fear that clergy sexual abuse is rampant today,” he said. Image of Saint James Cathedral in Seattle, Washington. / DarrylBrooks/Shutterstock

Richmond, Va., Jul 13, 2024 / 10:45 am (CNA).

A judge in Washington State on Friday rejected the state attorney general’s request to enforce a subpoena against the Archdiocese of Seattle as part of an ongoing investigation into sex abuse. 

Attorney General Bob Ferguson had said in May that his office had sent subpoenas to the Seattle archdiocese, the Diocese of Spokane and the Diocese of Yakima as part of an investigation into whether the bishoprics “used charitable funds to cover up allegations of child sex abuse by clergy.”

The attorney general’s office claimed in May that the Seattle archdiocese “refused to cooperate” with the subpoena, leading the prosecutor to request that the King County Superior Court enforce the demand under the state’s Charitable Trusts Act, which imposes transparency requirements on large charitable trusts. 

In a press release shared with CNA, the archdiocese said that King County Superior Court Judge Michael Scott on Friday “ruled that the attorney general does not have legal authority to enforce a subpoena against the Archdiocese of Seattle,” with the judge “specifically noting that the religious exemption in the Charitable Trust Act” applies in this case. 

The archdiocese “is committed to transparency and accountability to help those who have been harmed heal and to rebuild trust,” the Friday statement said, adding that the archdiocese “remains steadfast in its offer to collaborate with the attorney general in a lawful manner.”

In a Thursday letter prior to the ruling, Seattle Archbishop Paul Etienne had argued that the state charitable law contains “a very clear religious exemption that our Legislature adopted to limit the attorney general’s authority.”

“Because of this clear religious exemption, we simply cannot comply” with the subpoena, the archbishop wrote. “Doing so puts First Amendment rights and the foundational concept of separation of church and state at risk.” 

The prelate further argued that the prosecutor’s request was “too broad,” and that complying with the subpoena would involve “many months to produce irrelevant documents” and would “waste millions of dollars for us and for taxpayers.”

“To be very clear: we are not seeking to cover up the sins of the past,” the archbishop added. “We acknowledge that sexual abuse occurred; it is tragic and heartbreaking. We want abusers to be held accountable and we wish to dispel the fear that clergy sexual abuse is rampant today, because it is not.”

In a Friday statement following the ruling, meanwhile, Ferguson’s office reiterated its claim that the prosecutor “has authority under the Charitable Trusts Act to investigate organizations’ use of charitable funds.”

“We plan to immediately appeal this decision because Washingtonians deserve a full public accounting of the Church’s involvement in and responsibility for the child sexual abuse crisis,” Ferguson said. 

The prosecutor told local media that if the ruling “means we have to go all the way up to the state Supreme Court, that’s absolutely what we’re going to do.”

In May the Seattle archdiocese had said that it “welcome[d] this investigation because we have a shared goal of abuse prevention, healing for victims and transparency.” 

The archdiocese said that it had been “working closely with the attorney general’s team for months” on the investigation prior to the legal dispute.