This was predictable enough when the state of Washington passed a law earlier this month that not only forced Catholic priests to break the seal of the confessional if they learned of past sexual abuse, but singled out the clergy for less confidentiality protection than union representatives, peer-group and addiction counselors, lawyers, counselors, domestic violence advocates, “public officers,” and even podiatrists. On Thursday, the bishops of Seattle, Yakima, and Spokane filed suit in federal court in Tacoma ahead of the July 27 effective date of the law. The law would most likely be doomed already for its heavy-handed intrusion on a core, ancient sacramental rule of the Church, but it seems likely that the courts will not even need to reach that issue because it’s such an easy call to strike it down for discriminating against the clergy compared with nearly every other category of person likely to learn of sexual abuse in an official capacity.