The potential Supreme Court case that could be the next Janus for labor unions

Millions of public workers have a constitutional right not to pay dues to government labor unions.

Alaska’s request has its roots in the Supreme Court’s 2018 ruling in Janus v. AFSCME. The justices recognized that the First Amendment rights to free speech and free association mean public workers can’t be forced to support labor unions. That was the correct decision, yet unions quickly subverted it. At the time, unionized public workers nationwide had to opt out of union membership proactively. Unions have made that process as difficult and opaque as possible, with the goal of keeping as many members as possible. Such union roadblocks have made Janus far less impactful than it should have been.

The union tactics are as obvious as they are unjust. In many states, government unions simply fail to tell workers that they have the right to opt out of membership, giving the impression that membership is mandatory. Some states have passed laws that ban employers from telling workers about their rights. And in other states, unions make the opt-out process so burdensome, few if any employees can navigate it.