The government’s days of forcing non-union members to pay union fees are likely numbered. A few weeks ago, I discussed two pending cases challenging such fees and I explained that such fees amount to compelled speech. This post explains why those fees are unconstitutional. When defending compelled speech, the government faces an uphill ...
In Harris v. Quinn, the Supreme Court today struck down an Illinois executive order and law that declares all personal home healthcare assistants to be public employees, for the sole purpose of being represented by a union that seeks to lobby for greater government spending (Medicaid) on home healthcare. Under the Illinois law, the Service … ...
California law forces all public school teachers to pay chargeable dues to the labor union that represents them, regardless of whether they are union members. California law also forces all public school teachers to pay nonchargeable union dues unless they expressly opt-out of those payments. A nonunion public school teacher has only six weeks ...
Alexis De Tocqueville was deeply impressed by America’s use of voluntary associations to pursue undertakings both large and small, in every aspect of life. Public employee unions may soon be included in that category of voluntary associations, as several justices in today’s oral argument in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Associatio ...
The First Amendment protects the right to speak and associate as well as the right to refrain from speaking and associating. Today the Supreme Court decided to hear the First Amendment case – Janus v. AFSCME – that will determine whether non-union public employees must continue to subsidize the very unions they do not want … ...