First Amendment Case Accepted by the Supreme Court

By Shawn Healy

The Supreme Court added a case with First Amendment implications to their docket for the coming 2006-2007 term set to begin on Monday. At issue is whether or not a state, Washington in this case, may require labor unions to receive the express consent of a non-union employee in order to use their dues for political purposes. The Court has affirmed the right of unions to collect dues from non-members because the collective bargaining practices benefit the employee nonetheless. A 1977 case mandated an op-out provision for dues allocated to political activities, but this presently occurs after the fact and not beforehand.

The First Amendment issues in question here are two-sided. The plaintiffs, five Washington teachers and the state itself, equate union dues allocated to political activities with speech. The union could potentially spend money on a cause or candidate that an individual teacher did not support. The defendant, the Washington Education Association, argues that the state law requiring the opt-in provision interferes with union's freedom to associate, disrupting the balance between non-members' rights and those of the union.

These two stories provide more elaborate details about the case:
1. Justices to Decide on Use of Union Dues for Politics, Washington Post.

2. First Amendment Case on Court Docket, First Amendment Center.