LJC In The News
(The Hill)—As we celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week this week, teachers across the nation remain remarkably underappreciated. In at least five states so far this year, educators are voicing their discontent by organizing walkouts and strikes to protest lagging salaries and woefully inadequate supplies. Viral social media posts of classrooms in...
(Real Clear Education)—On February 26th, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). Mark Janus, a child support specialist working for the Illinois state government, was challenging state laws that force him to pay dues to the AFSCME union....
(The Hill)—The Supreme Court recently heard arguments in Janus v. AFSCME, a case involving “agency fees” that unions impose on workers who aren’t members to cover union activities with the exception of political action. Since the oral arguments took place, most news outlets, court watchers and even most union leaders...
(Journal Courier)—To Illinois College alum Mark Janus, who is at the center of a history-making Supreme Court case, it’s about standing up for what he believes is right. It’s that belief that resulted in his fight against the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union to the U.S....
(Monticello Times)—On Monday morning in the nation’s capital, Americans exercised their right to demonstrate peacefully on the steps of the Supreme Court. Hundreds of public employees, unions officials, and lawyers like me from all over the country, came with signs and chants to demand two very different versions of freedom....
(CATO Daily Podcast)—LJC Director of Litigation Jacob Huebert spoke with the Cato Institute’s Caleb Brown about Janus v. AFSCME, our Supreme Court case challenging laws that force government workers to pay union fees.
...(The Hill)—The Supreme Court is beginning a new term on Monday with a blockbuster docket of cases touching on civil rights, free speech, presidential power, redistricting and privacy rights. . . . Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Council 31 The justices are revisiting an issue...
(Wall Street Journal)—The Supreme Court has only just announced it will hear Mark Janus’s case, but labor unions are already acting as if they’ve lost. Mr. Janus, a state employee in Illinois, wants to stop paying union “fair share” fees, which ostensibly cover the cost of collective bargaining. If he...
(State Journal-Register)—Becoming an Eagle Scout taught me about public service. It means caring for your neighbor. It means being an active member of your community. And it means standing up for what you believe in. I’ve tried to pass those lessons along to the Scouts I’ve led in Springfield. The...
(CNN)—A week before the Supreme Court is set to begin the new term, justices announced Thursday that they are adding a big public sector union fees case to an already blockbuster docket. The issue concerns something that deeply divided the court in 2016: whether non-members of public sector unions can...
(National Review)—The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to announce this week whether it will hear a landmark labor case, Janus v. AFSCME. At the heart of the case is this question: Should government workers be forced to pay money to a union as a condition of their employment? Plaintiff Mark...
(State Journal-Register)—As a child support specialist at the Department of Health and Family Services, Mark Janus advocates for children who are caught in the crossfire of their parents’ divorce. Every day he goes to work, hoping to smooth a difficult process and give the kids he serves as bright a...
(New York Times)—Last year, the Supreme Court seemed poised to deal a sharp blow to public sector unions. Then Justice Antonin Scalia died and the court deadlocked, granting the unions a reprieve. It may not last long. Last week, a new case raising the same legal question arrived at the...
(SCOTUSblog)—It is settled law that public employees who do not belong to the union that represents them cannot be required to pay fees that the union would use for political activity like union organizing. But in 1977, the Supreme Court ruled that public employees who do not belong to a...
(Associated Press)—Conservative groups are wasting little time in trying to deal a crippling blow to labor unions now that Justice Neil Gorsuch has joined the Supreme Court. A First Amendment clash over public sector unions left the justices deadlocked last year after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. But union...