Last week, First Amendment scholars Professors Charles Fried and Robert Post filed this amicus brief in Janus in support of neither party. On the one hand, Fried and Post worry that First Amendment “doctrines would be substantially undermined were this C... More »
The United States filed an amicus brief last night in Janus v. AFSCME asking the Supreme Court to overrule Abood and to hold that public sector agency fee agreements are unconstitutional. This represents a change in the federal government’s position sin... More »
Earlier this week, the petitioner in Janus v. AFSCME filed this opening brief, which asks the Court to overrule Abood and to declare public sector agency fee agreements unconstitutional. The thrust of the argument is that “Abood is offensive to the Firs... More »
Two cases before the Supreme Court this Term will determine the extent to which political parties can entrench themselves in office. The most obvious of these cases is Gill v. Whitford, which involves the constitutional permissibility of partisan gerrymanderi... More »
In light of the Court’s grant of cert. in Janus v. AFSCME, I’m posting my new draft article on the subject. The article, Agency Fees and the First Amendment, 131 Harv. L. Rev. (forthcoming Feb. 2018), makes two related arguments, both of which aim ... More »
Maddy’s excellent wrap-up of yesterday’s Janus news includes a clip from Slate’s piece “Solidarity’s End.” There, Mark Joseph Stern provides a very useful synopsis of agency fees law, but he also suggests that a Janus decis... More »
The Supreme Court decided yesterday to hear Janus v. AFSCME. The Court seems poised to hold that agency-fee agreements for public sector workers are unconstitutional. Since the order, reports and commentaries have analyzed Janus‘s threat to public sect... More »
The Supreme Court will hear Janus v. AFSCME and revisit the constitutional status of agency fee agreements in the public sector. We will provide extensive coverage of the case over the coming months. More »
Months after reaching a 4-4 tie in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, the Supreme Court has denied the petitioners’ request for a rehearing. The Court waited until its final conference of the Term to vote on the petition, after postponing its decis... More »
In case you missed it, the Supreme Court has handed down a 4-4 affirmance of the lower court’s opinion in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association. The Court’s 1977 opinion in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education thus remains good law, and publ... More »
With yesterday’s news of Justice Scalia’s unexpected passing, the consensus seems to be that the Supreme Court will reach a split 4-4 decision in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association. In such an occurrence, the Ninth Circuit’s decision below — which u... More »
In Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, the plaintiffs are asking the Court to overrule a 39 year-old precedent that is itself based on earlier precedents. At the oral argument, Justice Breyer raised concerns about the potential for instability if t... More »