U.S. Supreme Court Justices Clash Over Mandatory Union Fees

• February 26 2018
• Greg Stohr

Members of the U.S. Supreme Court clashed sharply over the right of public-sector workers to refuse to pay union fees, while the justice who will cast the deciding vote kept silent during an hour-long argument.

Members of the U.S. Supreme Court clashed sharply over the right of public-sector workers to refuse to pay union fees, while the justice who will cast the deciding vote kept silent during an hour-long argument.

Justice Neil Gorsuch, the Donald Trump appointee who is serving his first full term, is poised to break the tie on a free-speech issue that split a shorthanded court two years ago. The case could affect 5 million workers in about two dozen states that allow public workers to be required to pay fees.

By all appearances, the case will divide his eight colleagues evenly. The court’s four Democratic appointees said during a fast-paced session Monday that a decision barring mandatory fees could have sweeping consequences.

"You’re basically arguing: Do away with unions," Justice Sonia Sotomayor told a lawyer challenging the fees.

The court’s conservatives, however, signaled they were poised to overturn a 1977 ruling that said states can let public-sector unions demand so-called agency fees from non-members, as long as the money covers representational work like collective bargaining and not ideological or political activities like lobbying.

Justice Anthony Kennedy suggested that unions were working together with public officials to produce "massive government" and higher taxes.

"Doesn’t it blink reality to deny that that’s what’s happening here?" Kennedy asked.

The clash is as much about the value of unions as it is about constitutional rights. Union leaders say the ultimate goal of those pressing the case is to undermine the clout of the labor movement. Hundreds of union supporters demonstrated outside the court in a morning rally.

The court will rule by June in the case, Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Council 31, 16-1466.

— With assistance by Kailey Leinz