REBECCA FRIEDRICHS, ET AL. v. CALIFORNIA TEACHERS ASSOCIATION, ET AL.
Documents:
Brief of Amici Curiae (Sept. 11, 2015)
Opinion of United States Supreme Court (March 29, 2016)
Case Summary:
The Civitas Institute Center for Law and Freedom joined several other state-based legal and policy organizations in asking the United States Supreme Court to uphold the freedom of employees to choose what political causes they support. The coalition asks the Court to reach the common-sense conclusion that employees cannot be forced to support a labor union with which they disagree politically or in other ways.
The coalition argues that compelling a person to support a labor union is, for purposes of the First Amendment, no different than compelling that person to support a church, political party, or other private group which whom they disagree. If the activities of unions were truly beneficial to all of their members, then there would be no need to compel people to support them.
Friedrichs is a California case out of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Unlike North Carolina, California does not have state right-to-work laws that protect employee freedom.
The Court will likely hear oral argument in December 2015 or January 2016.
