Dissenting teachers in Washington State put forth a long and mighty effort, and were rewarded for their patience – even though the rewards may be more psychic than monetary. In a unanimous 9-0 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court on June 14 ruled in favor of the right of nonunion employees to exercise discretion over how their mandatory union fees are spent. Consolidating the cases of Davenport v. Washington Education Association (No. 05-1589) and Washington v. Washington Education Association (No. 05-1657), the Court upheld a Washington State law passed by voter referendum a decade and a half ago giving public-school teachers the right to withhold payments for what they might consider objectionable political purposes. In so doing, the court overturned a state decision holding this “paycheck protection” law to be a violation of a union’s free-speech rights. At the same time, it’s a limited victory. The High Court sidestepped the issue of constitutionality of union forced-dues collections. Moreover, just weeks before the decision, the state’s union-friendly Democrat political establishment gutted the law.
