Steve Miller’s article “Rauner Draws Battle Lines
with Executive Order” was featured in Chicago Daily
Law on March 9, 2015.
On Feb. 9, Gov. Bruce Rauner signed an executive order preventing
unions representing state employees from collecting “fair
share fees” from employees who are not union members.
The stated reason for that executive order, which reverses decades of law allowing the collection of those fees, is to permit every state employee to enjoy the freedoms of speech and association enshrined in the state and federal constitutions.
In the article, Steve discusses the reason for such a change in philosophy and how it relates to the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision Harris v. Quinn.
In Harris, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., writing for the majority, stated that “no person in this country may be compelled to subsidize speech by a third party that he or she does not wish to support” because “compelled funding of the speech of other private speakers or groups presents the same dangers as compelled speech.”
In sum, the Supreme Court found that paying dues to support an organization that makes political contributions, both in time and money, that do not support the employee’s political viewpoint can potentially violate that employee’s First Amendment rights.
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