Supreme Court Conservatives Appear Set To Strike Down Union Fees On Free Speech Grounds

[Soph0571]

Paying union dues and baking a wedding cake may not seem like classic examples of free speech — except perhaps at the Supreme Court.

This year, the high court is poised to announce its most significant expansion of the First Amendment since the Citizens United decision in 2010, which struck down laws that limited campaign spending by corporations, unions and the very wealthy.

Now the "money is speech" doctrine is back and at the heart of a case to be heard this month that threatens the financial foundation of public employee unions in 22 "blue" states.

Like Citizens United, the union case is being closely watched for its potential to shift political power in states and across the nation.

[link:https://crooksandliars.com/2018/02/supreme-court-conservatives-appear-set|

[janterry]

1. That will destroy the unions

n/t

[Squinch]

2. Which will end what is left of the middle class.

[still_one]

3. Why would that just apply to unions? Wouldn't that apply to any group's activity, including a

political party?

I think it would open a very dangerous precedent that would extend into all sorts of areas.

[janterry]

4. Some states allow unions to mandate dues

To have the union job, you have to pay dues. Other states (ahem, Florida!) do not. As a result, just about no one pays dues. The result is that they have very little power. In FL., the staff derided the unions, though they did represent them when there was a problem (like they were about to be fired). But that was because the other states, with closed shops (where you must pay dues) kept the unions strong and powerful. They had enough money to help out in states like FL, where they got no money or support.

(Which sounds familiar, generally........wealthy liberal states helping out the rest of the country.....).

I don't know how this would relate to political parties.

[still_one]

5. I thought union member pay dues for the same reason that religious, cultural, business, professional

and political organizations pay dues. It costs money to run an organization, and in the case of unions that money is supposed to be used to defend the best interests of its members.

Unions started to lose their influence when reagan was elected, and unfortunately, a good number of those folks in unions voted for him.

[janterry]

7. I was in a union early in my career

in MA. In FL, I worked in the prisons as a tx., so there was no union for me. The prison guards, however, were represented by a union. But no one I knew wanted to fork over the 5.00 or so dollars a paycheck to support the union.

It's like all things, when people think that someone else will pay - they let them. In FL., the guards told me that the union was stupid. (Of course, if their job was on the line....they ran to the union!). But in general, they were so ineffectual, at least 'on the floor' - that most people didn't think much of them.

When I was in MA and in a union, I knew that the union protected even the little things around our office. Everything was collectively bargained.

In the FL prisons (this was a state run prison), the warden was king - and there was no notion that a union could protect you from any treatment that he or she wanted to dish out (within some reason....but not much).

You were lowest person there - you just had to take it.

[Fullduplexxx]

6. Government targeting a business for extinction .

How can a government tell a business they have to represent people for free?