Supreme Court Win For Unions: Scalia’s Death Caused Tie Vote
The United States Supreme Court has decided – by not deciding – a case today, which means a major victory for public sector unions in the U.S. The Supreme Court Justices were split, 4-4, leaving the case decided in a tie, which essentially means that previous, lower court rulings were upheld. A tie vote in the U.S. Supreme Court means, in effect, that the case was never heard at all.
After the Supreme Court’s tie vote today, public sector unions are celebrating, reports NBC News, for scoring a major victory in what could have been a case that dealt a major blow to public unions’ ability to fund themselves and organize. The controversial Supreme Court opinion was handed down today after a years long court battle against public unions and fees charged to non-union members.
In many U.S. states, public unions – like school district unions, police unions – are required to bargain not only for their own members but for all employees in a particular sector, again public school teachers, for instance. The Supreme Court case, if it had been decided against the public unions, would have diminished public union influence in those U.S. states, since they would no longer be able to charge fees to non-members, even if those non-members benefit from the bargaining that public unions may do on their behalf.
Breaking: Supreme Court deadlocks, 4-4; unable to reach decision on key labor union case
https://t.co/Hfqb8Vfp1r— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) March 29, 2016
The 4-4 vote in the Supreme Court comes after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, who likely would have tipped the scales against the public unions, as Scalia would have likely voted with the other conservative justices – against the union’s ability to charge fees to non-members, which some opponents allege is unconstitutional.
“[A loss] would call into question thousands of public-sector contracts covering 9.5 million public employees and affecting scores of ciritcal services, including police, fire, emergency response, and of course education,” said David Frederick, an attorney representing the a California teachers union in the Supreme Court case.
The Supreme Court case turns on a “service fee” charged to public employees in California who are required to pay dues to a union even if they’re not a member. The New York Times reports that the fees in this Supreme Court case are typically called “fair share service fees” or “agency fees” and help subsidize the costs that unions incur when bargaining for better benefits and pay for members — and non-members in some states like California.
The Supreme Court opinion handed down in the case, which handed the unions a resounding victory, isn’t the typical Supreme Court opinion — it’s only one sentence long, not a detailed defense or deconstruction of the legal issues at hand, since this case was only decided by not being decided.
Saved by the split: Supreme Court 4-4 ruling upholds public sector union dues https://t.co/yvKSi38vh6 pic.twitter.com/YxRSKStY6f
— VICE News (@VICENews) March 29, 2016
“The judgment is affirmed by an equally divided court,” reads the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the case of Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association.
The opposition to the public sector unions in this case, argued before the Supreme Court that the fees were unfairly levied on individuals who otherwise aren’t members of the unions in question.
“In this era of broken municipal budgets, and a national crisis in public education, it is difficult to imagine more politically charged issues than how much money local governments should devote to public employees, or what policies schools should adopt to best educate their children,” said Michael Carvin, an attorney representing the plaintiffs in the Supreme Court case Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association.
ABC News reported that the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia likely decided this case, as he was a vocal opponent of the public sector unions in this case. In fact, ABC News reports that during arguments in the case seen before the Supreme Court, Scalia made it clear he was “ready to deal a blow” to public unions.
[Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images]
