Supreme Court Rules that Public-Sector Agency-Shop Arrangements Violate the First Amendment

Executive Summary: On June 27, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court in Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31 struck down an Illinois law requiring public employees represented by a union to pay agency fees to the union even though the employee is a non-member, objects to positions taken by the union and has not consented to payment of the fee, holding the law “violates the free speech rights of nonmembers by compelling them to subsidize private speech on matters of substantial public concern.” The Court’s decision overrules its 1977 decision in Abood v. Detroit Bd. of Ed., 431 U. S. 209 (1977).