Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
Abood Overruled! Public Sector Unions Can No Longer Compel Dues Payments
This is a dagger in the heart of the ever expanding state and long overdue. Together with NIFLA v. Bacerra it’s a critical reaffirmation of our First Amendment rights of speech and conscience and a great day for the Constitution. It is darkened only by the sputteringly inexplicable fact that both decisions were 5-4.
The fact that four justices on our Supreme Court could dissent from these decisions is sad and terrifying. It shows us how close to the edge we were. Thank god for Mitch McConnell, Donald Trump, and Neil Gorsuch, who together preserved at least a narrow majority on the Court with fealty to the Constitution.
Published in General
Hear, hear!
The appointment and confirmation (thank you Mitch) of Justice Neil Gorsuch, rather than puppet-to-be Merrick Garland, is enough … by itself … for Conservatives to be pleased by the victory of President Donald J. Trump in November, 2016.
NeverTrumpers: “But Gorsuch!”
Conservatives: “Damn right, Gorsuch!”
The gift that lasts a lifetime (his)
I am not yet tired of all the winning.
Furthermore, the decision also prohibits the automatic collection of dues, members must agree to the collection of dues.
Barkeep: what will you have today sir ?
Me : Why I believe I’ll have me a frosty mug of progressive tears. 🤣🤣🤣
I have stated repeatedly that we need a public education system that teaches reading, ‘riting, and ‘rithmetic.
They left will still find a way to fund their campaigns with tax dollars through unions, as Eugene Volokh notes here.
I’m not surprised at the 5-4 split for the travel ban case given the reasoning of the dissent. If I squint, I can at least understand the legal perspective (even if I profoundly disagree). The public sector union ruling, however, is just shameful. Unions extracting fees for benefits from a service you didn’t ask for that go towards causes you disagree with is about as ethical as the bum who squeegees your windshield in stopped traffic without asking.
Yesterday evening millions of liberals were cheering the victory of an insurgent candidate over the 20-year establishment figure who represented the worst of the political machine to them.
Today most of the same liberals are likely bemoaning this decision by the Supreme Court.
I wonder how many of them realize that it is precisely these public sector unions that keep political establishment machines like the one in NYC alive and powerful. Maybe their wing of the party would also thrive if their establishment didn’t have such a permanent stream of funding and power to draw on.
Wow, what a huge victory!
Is it that surprising though? First off, the original decision it overturned was a 9-0 decision, so at some point judicial conservatives apparently thought the agency fees were kosher. Second, even a few liberatarians like Volokh supported the unions, so somewhere there’s apparently a plausible and coherent constitutional argument in favor of agency fees.
I don’t quite understand what that argument could be, but against this backdrop it seems lucky that it squeaked past at all.
Hear, hear!
Supreme Court decisions in June 2018
Some huge wins this session! Voter Rolls; Baker’s freedom; Union dues smackdown; and the lawful exercise of Presidential authority.
The Constitution wins!
And now Justice Kennedy is retiring … and President Trump gets another SCOTUS appointment!!
That is amazing!
Volokh makes an excellent point. Don’t take the dues directly from employees. Take them indirectly through taxation by paying the unions for their collective bargaining “services.”
Yes, that is also depressing. I hope he’s not right (or that any attempts to circumvent Janus also end up being litigated).
“Cocaine Mitch” smiles and nods slowly…
CNBC reports Anthony Kennedy is retiring. Now if only RBG would follow suit.
I’d like to hear from liberal intellectuals why you thought the ruling was Constitutionally sound.
Good Lord . . .
There you have it. The Janus decision is a sign of CHRISTIAN AUTOCRACY!
This from a law professor.
Sorry, but I can’t help. 1) I’m a liberal but not an intellectual. 2) I thought the ruling was right, except for not going so far as to abolish public employee unions altogether. (I don’t like all the Republican bashing of real labor unions that we sometimes get, though.)
What does that even mean?
I don’t know. Maybe if I was a law professor, I’d understand. ; )
It means that the first amendment shouldn’t apply when it’s used to protect speech that the left doesn’t like.
I must have missed that class in law school. Is she actually a professor? I googled here and didn’t find any sign of that.
Less ethical than the bum. He at least is doing you what could with enough goodwill be deemed a favor.
And Cato: I could not agree more.
That’s a really good analogy. Except that even the bum doesn’t use the power of the state to take your money at gunpoint, and then use it to advocate for more money for bums.
Jessica Mason Pieklo is a writer and adjunct law professor in Boulder, Colorado. She is the former assistant director of the Health Law Clinic at Hamline Law School in St. Paul, Minnesota and former litigator.