LJC In The News
Supreme Court Set for Historic New Term
(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...
Unions Act As If They’ve Already Lost
(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...
Janus v. AFSCME: The Worker’s Right to Choose
(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...
Supreme Court Adds Union Fee Case to Blockbuster Docket
(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...
No Government Worker Should Be Forced to Pay Union Fees
(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 Workers Should Be Free to Choose Who They Support
(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...
Unions Come Into the Justices’ Cross Hairs, Again
(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...
Will The Third Time Be The Charm For Challenge To Public-Sector Union Fees?
(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...
New High Court Challenge to Labor Unions Follows 4-4 Split
(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...
Justices Will Decide Whether to Take a Critical Case to Public-Sector Unions’ Future
(Washington Examiner)—With Trump tweets, British elections, and new terrorist attacks filling most of the cable news minutes and hours this week, it could easily go unnoticed that a child support specialist named Mark Janus has formally filed the request that his case, Janus v. AFSCME, be heard by the Supreme...
Judge: Cannabis Companies Can Make Campaign Contributions
(Associated Press)—Illinois’ medical marijuana companies, operating in an industry abounding with rules, now have one less regulation they have to follow. The Chicago Tribune reports that a federal judge ruled last week that a provision preventing cannabis companies from making campaign contributions in Illinois wasn’t constitutional. The ruling was in...
First Amendment Victory Over Ban on Political Contributions from Medical Marijuana Businesses in Illinois
(Reason)—The state of Illinois enacted in 2013 a pretty blatantly unconstitutional law forbidding businesses engaged in (legal) medical marijuana sales or growing from contributing to political campaigns, in effect either directly or via a PAC (though only the latter was literally codified). But since candidates were also barred from accepting...
Right-to-Work Court Case Could Have National Impact on Unions
(Fox News)—A landmark right-to-work lawsuit playing out in Illinois has captured widespread attention amid expectations the case could land before the Supreme Court – and potentially have national implications for an estimated 20 million government workers. The president of the Liberty Justice Center, who’s representing the three plaintiffs in the...
Chicago Made Their Business Illegal, Now Vugo is Fighting Back
(Illinois Policy Institute)—Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel brands his city as “the digital mecca of the Midwest.” But what happens when politicians tilt the playing field toward entrenched interests? Enter Vugo, a promising Midwest tech startup now suing the city for banning its business. Starting up James Bellefeuille used to moonlight...
Chicago Sued for Prohibiting Ads in Uber, Lyft Cars
(CBS)—The City of Chicago is being sued for prohibiting advertising in ridesharing vehicles, such as those from Uber or Lyft. WBBM Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports. The lawsuit is filed on behalf of Vugo, a company that wants to put targeted video ads in ridesharing cars. Jeffrey Schwab, staff attorney...