Janus v. AFSCME - An End to Union Politics as We Know It? - Granite Grok

Janus v. AFSCME – An End to Union Politics as We Know It?

Unions - Proud Owners Of The Democrat Party
Unions – Proud Owners Of The Democrat Party

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments last week in Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. What’s at stake?

The case concerns Mark Janus, a child-care specialist for the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, who refuses to join the union. Nonetheless, by state law, Janus is forced to pay “agency fees” to AFSCME. 

The ability of unions to require mandatory dues or fees. And all signs point toward the unions losing this fight.

Why?

Most observers believed the Supreme Court was poised to rule forced union dues unconstitutional in a different case, Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, before Justice Antonin Scalia’s passing in early 2016. Instead, without Scalia or a replacement, the Court deadlocked 4-4 in that case. Now with President Donald Trump’s pick, Justice Neil Gorsuch, replacing Scalia, most Court-watchers believe Mr. Janus will prevail, 5-4.

The unions have plowed billions into elections and issues advocacy in the past decade, almost all of it one-sided. A victory for Mark Janus, depending on how the decision is worded, will require unions to obtain permission before they can extract dues from workers. In the case of AFSCME, only 35% of their current members say they would continue the practice.

Unions and their Democrat benefactors are freaking out, and in many places are trying to pass state-level legislation to protect their forced contributions.

But that’s more damage control than remedy, and this could prove to be a huge victory against what amounts to little more than compelled speech with a price tag attached.

“If stripping a political advocacy group of the power to force workers to join their efforts is a crippling event,” wrote David Harsanyi, a senior editor at The Federalist, “then it’s an event worth celebrating.”

We hope that by Summer we’ll be celebrating.

 

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