Education Policy, Business and Technology

Justice Gorsuch Silent as Supreme Court Weighs Public-Employee Union Fees

Education Week: The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Monday in a major case about public-employee unions, with four justices appearing to support upholding agency fees for nonunion members and four other justices giving every indication that they are inclined to overrule a 40-year-old precedent that authorized such fees.

That leaves the tie-breaking vote in Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Council 31 (Case No. 16-1466) to the court's newest member, Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, who listened intently during the 60-minute argument but did not ask any questions and thus did not tip his hand.

Justices Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Anthony M. Kennedy aggressively questioned lawyers for the state of Illinois and for AFSCME, who were defending the 1977 decision in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education that authorizes teachers' unions and other public-employee groups to charge fees for collective bargaining-related services to those workers who decline to join the union.

Read article