Robert Romano describes a small victory for freedom, brought to you by the U.S. Supreme Court, which earlier this week overturned a Ninth Circuit Court ruling in Ysura v. Pocatello Education Association.
The Supremes affirmed an Idaho state law that prevents deductions from the paychecks of government employees from funding the political activities of labor unions. The teachers' union had argued (successfully in San Francisco but unsuccessfully in front of the Supremes) that the Idaho ban infringed on its First Amendment rights.
Apparently that was one bailout attempt too many. As Chief Justice John Roberts, writing the majority opinion, patiently explained to the lower-court judges and anyone else who was listening: “The First Amendment prohibits government from ‘abridging the freedom of speech’; it does not confer an affirmative right to use government payroll mechanisms for the purpose of obtaining funds for expression."
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2 comments:
Here in Texas teachers may not, thank God, bargain collectively. I won't ever walk out on the kids. But, sigh, even popular local bloggers and my own mother thinks I belong to a union because Fox News, Paul Harvey, Rush Windbagh, and certain blogging priests keep telling her that all teachers belong to an all-powerful monster known simply as "Th' Teachers' Union." The truth should not be sacrificed in pursuit of any cause.
Mack
Oh, yeah, I caught that subject-verb disagreement just as I hit the "Publish Your Comment" key.
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