Public-sector workers file two joint petitions to Supreme Court

By

Jerrick Adams

Public-sector workers file two joint petitions to Supreme Court

Public-sector workers have filed two new joint petitions for writs of certiorari—requests for the Supreme Court to review a lower court’s ruling—in cases involving union opt-out windows. Also, five public-sector union cases are among the list of petitions the Supreme Court will consider in its conference today.   

Anderson v. SEIU Local 503

In Anderson v. SEIU Local 503, public-sector workers in four cases filed a joint petition on Oct. 22, 2021. Attorneys from the Freedom Foundation and the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation represent the petitioners.  

The four cases, all appealed from the Ninth Circuit, are listed below:

The petition says:

“Petitioners are public employees in the States of California and Oregon who exercised their First Amendment rights to resign their union memberships, revoke their authorizations for their public employers to withhold further union payments from their wages after they became nonmembers, and object to subsidizing union speech. The respondent government employers and unions ignored petitioners’ revocations and continued seizing payments for union speech from these objecting nonmembers until an escape period (contained in their dues deduction authorizations) for stopping union deductions occurred. 

[…]  

“In some ways, escape-period requirements are worse than the agency fee law Janus held unconstitutional. Illinois’s law required government employers to deduct from nonconsenting employees’ wages reduced union fees that excluded monies used for some political purposes. … California’s and Oregon’s post-Janus revocation law requires that governments deduct full union dues, including monies used for partisan political purposes, from employees who resign and object to these seizures outside an annual

revocation period. … For employees who do not want to support union expressive activities, escape-period restrictions can be more harmful to their speech rights than the ‘agency shop’ requirement Janus struck down.”

The respondents have until Nov. 26, 2021, to file a reply.  

Woods v. Alaska State Employees Association

In Woods v. Alaska State Employees Association, public-sector workers in two cases filed a joint petition on Oct. 25, 2021. Attorneys from Liberty Justice Center and the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation represent the petitioners.

The two cases, both appealed from the Ninth Circuit, are listed below:

The petition says:

“…if Janus’ waiver requirement is not enforced, states and unions will continue to severely restrict when employees can exercise their right to stop paying for union speech. As earlier discussed, a dozen states amended their dues-deductions laws to require government employers to enforce restrictions on when employees can stop payroll deduction of union dues. … These types of restrictions also are enforced in at least five other states, including Alaska. … As a result, public employees in these states often are prohibited from exercising their First Amendment rights under Janus for 350-55 days of each year, if not for longer periods. 

[…]

“It is important that the Court make clear that it meant what it said in Janus: that states and unions cannot seize payments for union speech from employees unless they waive their right not to subsidize that speech. … Otherwise, a number of states and unions, with the blessing of three appellate courts, will continue to hamstring the First Amendment right the Court recognized in Janus.”

The respondents have until Nov. 26, 2021, to file a reply.  

Other petitions still pending 

Since the beginning of its 2021-2022 term on Oct. 4, the Supreme Court has decided not to hear eight of the 15 public-sector union cases we previewed in our Oct. 1 newsletter. The following seven cases are still pending. Of those seven, five were among the 189 cases distributed to the justices for their conference on Friday, Oct. 29.   

About the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court’s yearly term begins on the first Monday in October and lasts until the first Monday in October the following year. The court receives around 7,000 to 8,000 petitions every year. During its past five terms, the court has agreed to hear an average of 71 cases per term. The court generally releases the majority of its decisions in mid-June.   

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What we’re reading

The big picture

Number of relevant bills by state

We are currently tracking 101 pieces of legislation dealing with public-sector employee union policy. On the map below, a darker shade of green indicates a greater number of relevant bills. Click here for a complete list of all the bills we’re tracking. 

Number of relevant bills by current legislative status

Number of relevant bills by partisan status of sponsor(s) 

Recent legislative actions

No public-sector union bills saw activity this week.