Janus, the Court’s case about public sector agency fees that will be decided this term, is a case that could be framed in two ways. On the one hand, Janus is a case about compelled political speech: the government, by imposing agency fees as a condition of emp... More »
Advocates challenging forced labor practices are largely relying on the Trafficking Victims Protective Act (TVPA). However, as Leora Smith noted, the Thirteenth Amendment is “[l]urking in the background of [these] case[s].” Smith posits that advocates may be r... More »
Mark Janus’s lawyers are desperate to have the Court decide Janus v. AFSCME without considering any facts. Janus is an Illinois state employee, who is represented by AFSCME Council 31. Like all other employees in his bargaining unit, he is required to pay fa... More »
The Supreme Court heard oral argument on Monday in Janus. Analyses report that, as expected, there were pointed questions for AFSCME and Illinois by Justices Alito and Kennedy; the four liberal justices took every opportunity to highlight the potential effect... More »
The Supreme Court has posted the transcript of this morning’s oral argument in Janus. Notably, Justice Gorsuch, expected to be the deciding vote, did not speak during the argument. We’ll have more coverage of the oral argument later this week. More »
In advance of Monday’s oral argument in Janus, Bloomberg and the New York Times consider what might become of public sector unions if Abood is overruled. In These Times has a long feature on the advocacy groups who are funding not only Janus but also oth... More »
Most of the coverage of Janus v. AFSCME, like this recent piece in USA Today, simply (and perhaps correctly) assumes that the five Republican appointees on the Supreme Court will use the case to overturn Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, the 1977 case uphol... More »
A group of over two dozen economists and law and economics professors filed an amicus in Janus in support of the respondents. The brief argues that “decades if not centuries of economic theory and empirical evidence” establish that many who pay ag... More »
Several leading professors of labor and employment law have filed an amicus brief in support of the respondents in Janus. The brief, authored by Samuel Estreicher, was filed by Cynthia Estlund, Estreicher, Julius Getman, William Gould, Michael Harper, and The... More »
An amicus filed on Friday in Janus and based on Ben’s new article Agency Fees and the First Amendment, 131 Harv. L. Rev. 1046 urges the Court to reject Janus’s challenge on the ground that it does not raise a valid First Amendment claim. The amicu... More »
AFSCME filed its response brief in Janus last week. It defends Abood‘s distinction between collective bargaining and lobbying as doctrinally sound and makes a number of other arguments. Jurisdiction AFSCME first argues that the Court lacks subject matte... More »
The American Center for Law and Justice, a religiously oriented free speech advocacy organization, filed an amicus brief in Janus critiquing Professor Sachs Agency Fees and the First Amendment, 131 Harv. L. Rev. (forthcoming Feb. 2018) (summarized here). Nota... More »