CORRECTED: Supreme Court Okays Requirement of Member Permission When Using Dues For Political Speech/Contributions

A brief article on the ruling.

The U.S. Supreme Court reversed the state Supreme Court Thursday, ruling that the state teachers' union can't collect fees used for political purposes from nonmembers unless those nonmembers specifically give their permission.

In 1992, Washington voters approved the Fair Campaign Practices Act, and a provision of that initiative required unions to get permission from nonmembers before using dues for political purposes. The state Supreme Court, however, ruled that requiring that permission violates the First Amendment.

On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the state court, ruling that requiring that permission doesn't violate the First Amendment.

Sorry for the over-hype. It's a relaltively minor ruling.

Thanks to Sticky Notes for tipping me to this.

Correction: I originally wrote the post in the mistaken belief that the Supreme Court had itself imposed the permission requirement on unions as a constitutional prequisite for such spending. That's not even close to what the decision says; it merely says that a law passed by a state (or the federal government) requiring such permission is not a violation of the First Amendment.

Which seems pretty obvious to me. But it's nice to have that cleared up.

posted by Ace at 03:52 PM

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