Originally published Thursday, January 11, 2007 at 12:00 AM
State gains steam in union case before high court
Justices appear to side with Washington against using union nonmembers' fees for politics.
McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court appeared ready Wednesday to reject claims that the First Amendment prohibits Washington state from forcing unions to get permission before spending some of the money they collect on political causes.
At issue is how the Washington Education Association (WEA), the state's largest teachers union, handles the so-called agency fees it collects from school employees who choose not to be union members. Those fees, under state law, are paid to cover collective-bargaining activity that benefits everyone, whether they are union members or not.
But a 1992 law prohibited unions in the state from using that money for political activity without first getting permission from the nonmembers.
The arguments Wednesday turned largely on whose First Amendment rights were at stake. Lawyers for the state, backed by the Bush administration, argued that the most important rights in the case belong to employees, who shouldn't be forced to support causes with which they disagree.
Lawyers for the union say its rights to lobby are being infringed by the Washington restrictions.
The Supreme Court already has said nonmembers must be able to "opt out" of paying for political activity; the Washington law went further, saying unions must get them to "opt in" before pursuing political causes with their money.
Both the state attorney general and several teachers sued the WEA, accusing it of violating the 1992 law. The state's highest court concluded that the law violated the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, essentially because it placed undue burdens on the unions' political speech.
The state court agreed that the "opt-in" requirement would create an administrative nightmare for the union in its effort to collect the fees, and that the "opt-out" requirement was a less burdensome alternative that the state should have chosen.
That reasoning clearly fell flat with Chief Justice John Roberts and with justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and Samuel Alito.
Justices John Paul Stevens, David Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsburg also hammered the union's lawyer with questions that reflected serious doubt about his arguments.
Justice Stephen Breyer seemed similarly inclined, but less certain. Justice Clarence Thomas, as is his custom, said nothing during arguments.
Kennedy best summed the justices' response to the union's arguments:
"States have considerable discretion in determining how to protect federal constitutional rights," he said at one point. "It seems to me that Washington acted quite properly in saying we will use this mechanism in order to protect our workers' First Amendment constitutional rights."
Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company
Food-safety lawyer's wish: Put me out of business
Illegal workers quietly let go
Metro won't cut bus service after all
Jerry Large: Food-bank theft turns into a gift
Bumper to Bumper: How can the city let bridges go dark?

PNW Magazine | Easy As Pie
A little friendly competition between professional pie-baker Kate McDermott and The Seatttle Times' Kathleen Triesch Saul is handled with great taste.
general classifieds
Garage & estate salesFurniture & home furnishings
Sporting goods
just listed
42" Hitachi Plasma 1080i - $500
8 Drawer Dresser with Attached Mirror - $200
8 seat pecon formal dining table and china hutch - $1500
More listings
POST A FREE LISTING
shopping
events for Monday, Nov. 23
- Contractors equipment and vehicle auction
- $100 Holiday Blitz at Ella Mon
- Furnishments Thanksgiving Weekend Sale
- Black Friday Sale at Merge
editors' picks
More shopping guides- 'The Road' takes Viggo Mortensen to Mount St. Helens and Astoria, Ore.
- Tugboat sinks at Seattle waterfront pier
- Illegal workers quietly let go
- Child-support error costs nearly $21,000
- Vikings easily beat the Seahawks
- Craigslist adoption ad: A plea by young mother-to-be? A scam?
- Chase shrugs off loss of CD investors
- Woman stabbed by stranger in North Seattle
- Snow piles up on Cascade slopes
- Denny Triangle gains skyline, but tenants slow to come
- Illegal workers quietly let go
395 - Climate change speeds up since 1997 Kyoto accord
213 - Metro won't cut bus service after all
159 - New Husky recruit: Enes Kanter
101 - Tattoos at Mill Creek Church pierce skin, soul
85 - Middleton says Huskies "plan on scoring at least 50 points'' Saturday
84 - Jerry Brewer: Seahawks can't lean on the Hutch Crutch now
75 - Seattle woman charged with knife attack on boyfriend's ex
71 - UW, WSU once again meet to see who's worse
68 - Bellevue residents blast new bikini espresso stand
67
- Sprouts, raw fish on attorney's 'do not eat' list
- Tattoos at Mill Creek church pierce skin, soul
- Food-safety lawyer's wish: Put me out of business
- Illegal workers quietly let go
- Architects, chefs find 'kid' within to build Gingerbread Village
- Rediscovering Moab, 'the most beautiful place on Earth'
- It's possible to recover a life lost to hoarding
- Child-support error costs nearly $21,000
- 'The Road' takes Viggo Mortensen to Mount St. Helens and Astoria, Ore.
- Taste | The Great Pie Bake-off pits friends and fruit

