OLYMPIA, Washington (LifeSiteNews) — Orthodox churches in America filed a federal lawsuit against the state of Washington over its law that would fine priests or threaten them with jail time for not violating the Seal of Confession.

The lawsuit, filed by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), is the latest legal challenge to Senate Bill 5375. The law, signed in May by the state’s left-wing Governor Bob Ferguson orders Catholic and Orthodox priests to report some types of alleged abuse if they hear about them during Confession.

It is already being challenged by Catholic priests and bishops in the state, as LifeSiteNews previously reported.

The law is “rank religious discrimination,” according to ADF Senior Counsel John Bursch.

“Washington is targeting priests by compelling them to break the sacred confidentiality of confession while protecting other confidential communications, like those between attorneys and their clients,” the attorney stated in a news release. “That’s rank religious discrimination. We are urging the court to swiftly restore this constitutionally protected freedom of churches and priests in Washington state.”

The lawsuit names Governor Ferguson, Attorney General Nicholas Brown, and all county prosecutors as defendants.

As explained by ADF, the law would harm both Orthodox priests and the laity. Similar to the Catholic Church, “Orthodox churches teach that priests have a strict religious duty to maintain the absolute confidentiality of what is disclosed in the sacrament of confession.”

In the Catholic Church, violating the Seal of Confession is an excommunicable offense. Similarly, Orthodox churches view this violation as “a canonical crime and a grave sin, with severe consequences for the offending priest, including removal from the priesthood.”

The laity are also harmed because it “deters believers from confessing certain sins—or even from going to confession at all—and so prevents them from mending their relationship with God.”

The lawsuit notes the Supreme Court has long upheld clergy-penitent protections.

“The priest-penitent privilege recognizes the human need to disclose to a spiritual counselor, in total and absolute confidence, what are believed to be flawed acts or thoughts and to receive priestly consolation and guidance in return,” Trammel v. United States, a 1980 Supreme Court case, clearly states. The lawsuit cites this ruling.

The law also singles out clergy while preserving “attorney-client privilege, peer supporter privilege, the sexual assault advocate privilege, and the alcohol or drug recovery fellowship privilege.”

It is clear, according to the legislative record, that the bill is motivated by “religious animus,” ADF states.

The lawsuit notes that sponsor Sen. Noel Frame, a left-wing Democrat, compared the Catholic Church’s opposition to “an abusive relationship that we’re in, where we are repeatedly abused and people keep saying sorry.”

Frame, as previously reported by LifeSiteNews, dismissed religious freedom concerns during debates over the bill. She is a professed Catholic convert who claimed that this issue led her to not raise her child as Catholic. However, as LifeSiteNews has noted, she has a record of supporting abortion and the LGBT agenda, which raises questions over how committed she was in the first place to teaching the Catholic faith.

Gov. Ferguson, for his part, mentioned he had previously been to Confession and cited his ex-Jesuit priest uncle in justifying his decision to put a target on the back of priests.

Ferguson has a track record of weaponizing the government against his opponents, including conservative Christians. For example, while serving as attorney general, he threatened prosecution against several of his primary opponents for governor who had a similar name.

He also initiated legally dubious investigations into pro-life nonprofits as attorney general. He additionally supports prosecuting Christians who decline to provide their services to homosexual “weddings.”

Washington faces three separate challenges to bill

The lawsuit adds to the legal headaches for the state as it seeks to justify singling out priests for prosecution. Soon after the signing of the bill, the Department of Justice announced it opened a federal investigation into the state.

“SB 5375 demands that Catholic Priests violate their deeply held faith in order to obey the law, a violation of the Constitution and a breach of the free exercise of religion cannot stand under our Constitutional system of government,” Assistant Attorney General Dhillon wrote in a news release.

“Worse, the law appears to single out clergy as not entitled to assert applicable privileges, as compared to other reporting professionals,” Dhillon stated in early May. “We take this matter very seriously and look forward to Washington State’s cooperation with our investigation.”

A well-known legal expert also criticized the bill prior to its passage.

George Washington University law Professor Jonathan Turley, who is Catholic, wrote, “the Washington State law is a frontal attack on free exercise and would be struck down if enacted.”

“The only question is why Democrats consider such legislation to be any more viable politically than it is constitutionally,” the George Washington University professor wrote in February on his legal commentary website.

A similar effort died in Montana this year, following media coverage by LifeSiteNews. Like Frame, Montana Sen. Mary Ann Dunwell cited her (formerly) Catholic identification in discussions of the bill. She also mentioned she “went to Catholic school.”

Questioned by LifeSiteNews in January, she said clergy, whom she refused to name, said they could absolve a penitent and still report abuse.

When asked about the excommunicable offense of breaking the Seal of Confession, Dunwell said it was “off the subject.”

“This [bill] deals with civil law and criminal law,” she added. “It has nothing to do with canon law, that’s not my job.”

She later amended the bill, but it remained flawed and ultimately died.