LATEST NEWS
In The News | Yahoo! | Jan. 24, 2007
ustice Clarence Thomas stayed mum, as usual, but all eight of his colleagues got into the act two weeks ago when the Supreme Court heard argument in the case of a teachers union. When oral argument ended at noon, most observers probably thought the union's luck had run out with the clock, but these things are tough to call...Seven years ago the free-spirited Evergreen Freedom Foundation, the National Right to Work Legal Foundation and the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission combined in suits against the union...
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In The News | The Columbian | Jan. 18, 2007
State taxpayers should be antsy for a coming U.S. Supreme Court ruling that concerns one of the state's largest groups of employees: educators..."The arguments Wednesday turned largely on whose First Amendment rights were at stake. Lawyers for the state, backed by the Bush administration, argued that the most important rights in the case belong to employees, who shouldn't be forced to support causes with which they disagree. Lawyers for the union say its rights to lobby are being infringed by the Washington restrictions."....
...read more Restore workers' constitutional rights
In The News | Washington Times | Jan. 10, 2007
Despite the fact that 43 percent of voters from union households cast their ballots for President Bush in 2004 (according to a national exit poll commissioned by the Los Angeles Times), labor unions have routinely directed more than 90 percent of their political expenditures to the candidates and causes of the Democratic Party. Of course that's outrageous. However, what has been happening in the state of Washington is even more outrageous. So much, in fact, that the Supreme Court of Washington state has turned the First Amendment upside-down....
...read more Legislative Privilege, Free Speech
In The News | US News | Jan. 12, 2007
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Washington v. Washington Education Association. This is an appeal of the judgment by the Washington Supreme Court that the state National Education Association's First Amendment rights were violated by a 1992 law adopted by the voters in referendum. The law requires that the union get opt-in approval from nonmember teachers before deducting from their paychecks the portion of fees used for political purposes....
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Opinion-Editorial | Spokesman Review | Jan. 12, 2007
As recently as the 1970s, leaders of Washington's largest teachers union disputed that label, and members recoiled from it. The Washington Education Association considered itself a professional organization, devoted to instructional quality. A union? No way...
...read more Supreme Court Shows an Anti-Union Hand
In the News | Legal Times | Jan. 12, 2007
The Supreme Court struck a new anti-union note Wednesday during oral arguments that pointed toward a ruling against the Washington state teachers union in a First Amendment dispute over how it should collect fees from nonmembers.....
...read more Supreme Court Considers Union Spending
AUDIO | NPR | Jan. 11, 2007
The Supreme Court is set to review a case that could determine how unions are allowed to spend member dues. Some teachers in Washington State say their dues were spent improperly on political lobbying. Dahlia Lithwick, legal analyst for Day to Day and the online magazine Slate, talks with Alex Chadwick......
...read more High Court Sorts Through Challenge on Union Fees
AUDIO | NPR | Jan. 11, 2007
The Supreme Court hears arguments on a case challenging how unions may spend fees paid to them by nonmembers. The question: Can nonmembers decline to have those fees used for political activities?...
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In the News | Wall Street Journal | Jan. 10, 2007
Compulsory dues are the financial foundation of Big Labor's political power. So you can bet union officials will be paying special attention today as the Supreme Court hears oral arguments in a case that could affect how that money may be spent.....
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In the News | Slate | Jan. 10, 2007
There's nothing clear about the legal claims in this morning's consolidated cases of Davenport v. WEA and Washington v. WEA. Indeed the constitutional questions before the court are so fuzzy that the justices spend loads of time just trying to clarify with the advocates precisely what these constitutional questions are.....
...read more Supreme Court to hear arguments in case that could affect Colorado
In the News | Greeley Tribune | Jan. 10, 2007
In 1992, voters in Washington approved a sweeping campaign finance initiative limiting donations for candidates in statewide races. Tucked into the ballot measure was an obscure and little-publicized provision requiring unions to receive the express consent of nonmembers before spending their money on political causes. Today, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on whether that requirement violates the First Amendment in a case that could spur similar state laws and further weaken the influence of organized labor....
...read more For dissident teachers, the right to limit dues
In the News | Seattle Times | Jan. 10, 2007
In the Washington Education Association case argued Wednesday at the U.S. Supreme Court, most of the justices seemed to side with Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna, who was representing the rights of the dissident teachers. So do we. The case has been portrayed as an attack on unions. It really is not...
...read more Supreme Court Hears Challenge to Union's Method of Collecting Agency Fees
In the News | NEA.org | Jan. 10, 2007
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments today in a case that anti-labor groups are using to attack the basic First Amendment rights of unions they oppose...
...read more Unions' Use of Fees Up for Review by Supreme Court
In The News | National Law Journal | Jan. 9, 2007
Labor unions, money and elections intersect in the U.S. Supreme Court this week in a case testing the ability of states to restrict unions' use of nonmember fees in political activities...
...read more Free-speech dispute over union fees
Opinion Editorial | CSmonitor.com | Jan. 9, 2007
The US Constitution forbids unions from using fees collected from nonunion workers to finance political activities unless the nonmembers grant permission. Without consent, such action would raise the specter of nonmembers being dragooned into subsidizing political efforts they may not support. And that would violate the free speech and association clauses of the First Amendment. But how much permission is necessary?...
...read more Union dues case a chance to protect right-to-work laws
Opinion Editorial | Spokesman Review | Jan. 9 , 2007
On Jan. 10, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Davenport v. Washington Education Association, a case with important implications for employee rights. It's a clash between individuals who desire neither union representation nor being forced to fund union politicking — and union officials who want to seize every dollar they can. The case arose out of an attempt in Washington state to regulate the use of forced union dues for certain political purposes. In 1992, voters approved a campaign finance law that included a provision compelling government union officials to obtain prior consent from non-members who must accept unionization as a condition of employment...
...read more Union fight reaches high court
In The News | Seattle Times | Jan. 9, 2007
In an appeal of a Washington state case, the U.S. Supreme Court is set to decide whether labor unions must get permission before spending nonmembers' fees on political activities. The case, which is scheduled for oral arguments in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, is the latest clash in a nationwide war between labor unions and anti-union forces. Union leaders say they are fighting to preserve their rights to political free speech...
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High Court To Decide Uses For Union Dues
In The News | January 8, 2007
...read more McKenna argues first case before US Supreme Court
News Release | January 8, 2007
Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna will make his first appearance before the United States Supreme Court Wednesday, presenting the state’s argument in Washington v. Washington Education Association. McKenna will ask the US Supreme Court to reverse a Washington State Supreme Court decision, ruling part of Washington’s voter-approved campaign finance law unconstitutional.
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In the News | January 8, 2007
Organized labor won big last year when Washington state's highest court struck down a law making it harder for unions to spend mandatory fees collected from nonmembers on political campaigns. The ruling seemed likely to end a long-running dispute between the state teachers' union and the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, an advocacy group in Olympia, Wash., that is critical of unions and is determined to reduce their role in politics and education. More broadly, the decision stood to influence courts in other states confronted with similar battles over labor's use of dues and fees in the political arena...
...read more High Court to Decide Uses for Union Dues - Forbes.com
In the News | January 8, 2007
The man whose name is on a labor-limiting lawsuit the U.S. Supreme Court is to hear this week says politics, not a dislike of unions, kept him from joining up when he got his teaching job in 1998...The Evergreen Freedom Foundation, a conservative think tank, sought out Davenport and other nonmember teachers after fighting for years with the Washington Education Association over the union's collection of fees from workers who choose not to join...
...read more U.S. Supreme Court urged to uphold limitation on the use of union fees for political purposes
Campaign rules need clarification
Court Needs Lesson On First Amendment
Mackinac Center Amicus Curiae Brief in Davenport v. Washington Education Association and Washington v. Washington Education Association
Issue Brief: The Foundation's U.S. Supreme Court Case
Supreme Court to Consider Wash. Union Case
Supreme Court to Hear Case on Union Fees
Opening briefs filed in U.S. Supreme Court case
Supreme Court Asked to Reject Effort to Extend McConnell v. FEC to Govern Union "Opt-In" Requirement
For Unions, a Supreme Test of Fairness
SUPREME COURT SHOULD UPHOLD WORKER'S RIGHT TO CONTROL WHETHER THEIR PAY IS USED FOR POLITICS
TIME TO GET OVER UNION-FEE SPAT
DON'T FORCE WORKERS TO SUPPORT POLITICIANS
TEACHERS VS. UNIONS AT SUPREME COURT
UNION DUES AND DON'TS
Opinion - Editorial | October 29 , 2006
IS THE FIRST AMENDMENT A LICENSE TO STEAL?
SUPREME COURT TAKES UNION FEES CASE
Supreme Court to Hear Union Fee Case
U.S. SUPREME COURT TO HEAR WASHINGTON CASES ON USE OF UNION DUES FOR POLITICS
No First Amendment cases yet on Court docket
Supreme Court to Hear Union Fee Case
- Reading, writing and rip-off
- Turning the First Amendment on Its Head
- Nationwide State Legislator Group Urges U.S. Supreme Court to Review Teachers Union Political Practices
- Commonwealth Foundation Files “Friend of the Court” Brief with U.S. Supreme Court
- National coalition urges U.S. Supreme Court to accept Washington v. WEA case
- Big Labor Doesn't Know Meaning of 'No'
- Washington Teachers Union Refuses Union Dues Transfer Away from Abortion Support
- Teachers and Attorney General appeal state ruling to U.S. Supreme Court
- Attorney General formally appeals campaign finance initiative case
- Court upholds teachers union's political financing
- Teachers shouldn't be forced to 'opt-out' of the First Amendment
- Attorney General to appeal WEA case to U.S. Supreme Court
- Court rules in favor of unions over fees
- State Supreme Court rejects campaign finance law that led to fining of WEA
- State Supreme Court “turns First Amendment on its head!”
- WA Supreme Court to issue ruling in case against Washington Education Association
- Paradoxical Ruling Appealed to Washington Supreme Court
- WA Supreme Court to hear appeal on forced political participation and teachers' rights
- "Free" Speech, according to the WEA
- Teachers, AG appeal cases against WEA
- PDC decides to appeal WEA case to State Supreme Court
- Court strikes staggering blow to free speech
- WEA ignored law, says AG's office
Labor Policy Center
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