On April 11, the Liberty Justice Center filed a lawsuit on behalf of two Jewish New York City public defenders who argue that they should not be forced to pay dues to a union which holds positions they believe to be antisemitic.
To meet its legal obligation to provide free legal representation to individuals who have been accused of a crime and cannot otherwise afford a lawyer, the City of New York contracts with the not-for-profit Legal Aid Society. Legal Aid Society provides attorneys whose sole job is to serve as public defenders for the City of New York, whom it pays entirely from government funds it receives. Plaintiffs Arnold Levine and Allen Popper are two such public defenders.
Legal Aid Society has a collective bargaining agreement with the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys, which requires all employees to pay dues or their equivalent to the union to keep their jobs. Mr. Levine and Mr. Popper, who are Jewish, object to union positions and resolutions that they believe are antisemitic, and do not wish to be members or pay money to support the union.
Congress recently launched an investigation into the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys due to whistleblower reports of antisemitism by union members.
The Liberty Justice Center is suing the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys, Legal Aid Society, and the City of New York on behalf of Mr. Levine and Mr. Popper, alleging that these defendants are violating the attorneys’ First Amendment rights by forcing them to subsidize political speech as a condition of employment.
The Supreme Court has held that the First Amendment prohibits the government from compelling a person to subsidize a union’s speech. In Janus v. AFSCME, the Court held that a government could not force its employees to pay a union as a condition of their employment. And in Harris v. Quinn, the Court held that a government could not compel recipients of government funds, through a state program to provide services to other private individuals, to pay money to a union.
“Under Janus, the government cannot compel public defenders to pay money to a union as a condition of their employment,” said Jeffrey Schwab, Senior Counsel at the Liberty Justice Center. “Nor can the City of New York force its public defenders to pay money to a union by hiring them through a nonprofit organization whose employees are unionized.”
“I shouldn’t have to financially support an organization that adopts antisemitic resolutions, sides with terrorist organizations, and advocates for the destruction of Israel in order to be a public defender in New York,” said plaintiff Arnold Levine.
Levine v. Association of Legal Aid Attorneys was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on April 11, 2024.
The Liberty Justice Center’s case filings in Levine v. Association of Legal Aid Attorneys are available here.