06/14/2007
Ruling is first time U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on constitutionality of "opt-in" procedure
Washington, D.C.--The U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that a Washington law that requires unions to obtain nonmember's consent before using union fees for political purposes does not violate the First Amendment. The National Federation of Independent Business Legal Foundation filed an amicus brief with the court urging that this law be upheld.
In order to protect the rights of non-union employees, the voters of Washington enacted the Fair Campaigns Practices Act, which requires unions to secure consent from non-union employees before using their agency shop fees for political purposes. In essence, Washington has adopted an "opt-in" mechanism by which agency fee employees must affirmatively consent to the union's use of their fees for political purposes.
"NFIB has long supported limitations that protect non-union employees from unwittingly or unwillingly financially supporting political causes with which they do not agree," said Karen Harned, executive director for NFIB's Legal Foundation. "By finding this law constitutional, the Supreme Court has helped close the door on labor plans to roll back established limits on the use of union dues."
The U.S. Supreme Court had never previously addressed the constitutionality of such an opt-in procedure, although it has approved an opt-out procedure as consistent with the First Amendment. NFIB argued that a decision in the case will resolve a conflict among the lower courts regarding the level of protection that can be provided to non-union members. In its brief, NFIB pointed to a long judicial history that prohibits organizations from forcing non-members to support a union’s political activities.
The consolidated cases in which the Supreme Court ruled were Davenport v. Washington Education Association ("WEA") (No. 05-1589) and Washington v. WEA (No. 05-1657).
