High Court Union Ruling Opens Door to First Amendment Challenges

A Supreme Court decision barring public sector unions from requiring workers to pay fees has bolstered legal challenges to issues as diverse as mandatory bar memberships, funding for grape advertising, and pro-labor logos in the workplace.

The ruling essentially said that under the First Amendment, people can’t be forced to pay for others’ statements with which they disagree. But in her dissent, Justice Elena Kagan accused the conservative majority of “turning the First Amendment into a sword, and using it against workaday economic and regulatory policy.”

How courts treat early efforts to expand the boundaries of the Janus v. AFSCME ...