Free Speech Carries the Day

A good day thanks to the Supreme Court:

The U.S . Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a Washington state law restricting use of union dues for political purposes in a pair of cases that melded free speech, election advocacy and workplace rights.

At issue was whether states could force labor unions to obtain direct permission from workers before spending their mandatory "shop fees" on partisan politics, including candidates and issues that many workers may not support.

"No suppression of ideas is afoot," wrote Justice Antonin Scalia, "since the union remains free as any other entity to participate in the electoral process with all available funds other than the state-coerced agency fees lacking affirmative permission."

State officials were among those who brought the high court appeal on behalf of a few thousand public school teachers who refused to join their union. Under a voter-approved ballot initiative, those nonunion workers can still be charged an annual service fee -- equal in amount to union dues -- but only to help pay for traditional labor negotiations.

Those fees cannot be spent on most types of political activities, under the 1992 law, "unless affirmatively authorized by the individual."

And good. I have talked before about the unfairness of the collection of union dues that are going to be spent for political purposes that may run contrary to the interests of the union members, particularly as it relates to Anne Arundel County's unfair "Fair Share" law for teacher's union members.

Unfortunately, this ruling is limited because Washington is the only state with such a law. Perhaps it is time Congress consider passing such a law nationally in order to ensure that union members are not forced to fork over their union dues to fund candidates and positions that are abhorrent to their belief systems.