Posts tagged Supreme Court
Op-ed: Unions still haven’t accepted Janus
June 29, 2026 // Public employees have a First Amendment right not to join or financially support a public-sector union. Yet across the country, many workers are never clearly told that. In some states, unions have secured laws giving them mandatory access to new employees, including closed-door meetings during onboarding. But those workers may never hear the other side: That union membership is optional and that they have a constitutional right to decline. That is not informed consent. It is a one-sided sales pitch backed by political power.
Commentary: NY unions put a target on my back — for helping their members escape
June 22, 2026 // A few days ago, at the tail end of its legislative session, Albany lawmakers passed a bill giving Attorney General Letitia James sweeping new powers to investigate and fine any organization — even those based in other states — for communications she determines to “falsely impersonate” a union. The fine is $1,000 per incident: $1,000 for every mailer or email my group, the Freedom Foundation, sends to tens of thousands of workers annually. The bill claims it’s meant to stop the impersonation of union representatives, but its real purpose is to stop groups like mine from telling public employees what their unions don’t want them to know: That they have a constitutional right to decline union membership and dues without losing their jobs.
The Texas Case That Could Bring Down the NLRB
June 13, 2026 // That’s the reality of a May decision by a U.S. district court in Fort Worth in the case Aunt Bertha v. National Labor Relations Board. The court ruled that the NLRB – the main government agency overseeing union organizing and collective bargaining in the private sector – is unconstitutional on multiple counts. This case seems destined to head to the Supreme Court, and if it does, Congress may have to rewrite federal labor law to meet workers’ needs in the 21st century.
Report: The diminishing power of teacher unions
May 29, 2026 // The result is A Crowded Table: Teacher Union Strength in 2026. Building on our original study, the authors set out to gauge teacher union strength in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia (D.C.). Collectively, the 59 measures—which include 29 new measures that were not in the original report—seek to quantify union strength in five key areas: Resources and Membership; Involvement in Politics; Labor and Bargaining Policies; Policy Wins and Losses; and Perceived Influence, which draws from an original survey examining how stakeholders in each of the 50 states and D.C. perceive teacher union strength today. The states with the strongest teacher unions are Vermont, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Hawaii. The states with the weakest teacher unions are Arkansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Mississippi. (See our interactive table on the report website for the overall rankings alongside the rankings for each of the five areas.)
Organized Labor’s Violent Privilege: The Supreme Court Loophole Shielding Union Officials from Prosecution
May 27, 2026 // Under federal precedent, they can often destroy property, assault workers, threaten communities, and even commit murder with reduced risk of serious prosecution — as long as the acts advance “legitimate union objectives” such as higher wages or work rules. This extraordinary immunity stems primarily from the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 ruling in United States v. Emmons, which gutted key provisions of the Hobbs Act. Combined with practical limitations in the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), it has created a regime where violence during labor disputes is frequently treated differently under the law. The Emmons Decision: A Judicial Loophole In United States v. Emmons, 410 U.S. 396 (1973), three IBEW members were indicted for firing high-powered rifles at utility transformers, draining oil from equipment, and blowing up a substation during a strike. The Supreme Court held that such violence did not constitute “wrongful” extortion under the Hobbs Act (18 U.S.C. § 1951) because the union had a “claim of right” to pursue legitimate bargaining goals.
Commentary: Josh Hawley’s Pro-Union Bill Would Let Washington Write Your Contract
May 16, 2026 // A Hawley-backed bill, known as the Faster Labor Contracts Act (FLCA), seems to be picking up steam and may soon pass the House of Representatives. Unfortunately, the FLCA is a trifecta of bad public policy: It suffers from constitutional infirmities, revives a corrupt government agency, and takes away the voice of both businesses and workers. Earlier this Congress, Hawley introduced the FLCA in the Senate, alongside one other Republican senator and three Democratic senators; he has since picked up another Republican and 10 more Democrats. Companion legislation in the House has 99 cosponsors, 17 of which are Republican.
Opinion Editorial Board ‘Ha! She has been supporting the thing she despises this entire time.’
May 4, 2026 // Adding to their contempt for Carter, the union continued to fight her in court. Finally, last week, the case came to a close when Carter received almost $950,000 in damages from Southwest and the TWU. Carter was only able to afford this lawsuit because of pro bono representation by the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. How many other Southwest flight attendants have had their money used for political activism they oppose by a union that hates their beliefs?
Pennsylvania unions know that money talks
April 27, 2026 // The union PACs spent $2.2 million on the judicial retentions. Voters retained all three justices, Kevin Dougherty, Christine Donohue, and David Wecht. The unions spent $2.2 million to retain them. Dougherty received the most union funding — $1.1 million. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Locals 5 and 98 spent $180,000 to help retain Dougherty. Dougherty’s incarcerated brother, John “Johnny Doc” Dougherty, led the Local 98. Government unions overwhelmingly supported Democrats for political office. Roughly 91 percent of partisan candidate donations went to Democrats, while Republicans received just over 9 percent, the report said.
Why College Athletes Probably Won’t Unionize
April 21, 2026 // Still, some schools are worried about possible unionization of players. That is the case at Duke University, which chose to hire a law firm that specializes in labor relations to assess the situation. The firm’s conclusion was that the school did not need to worry. Anderson concurs.
Littler Lightbulb – March 2026 Employment Appellate Roundup
April 21, 2026 // This Littler Lightbulb highlights some of the more significant employment and labor law developments in the federal courts of appeal in the last month.