In its last act before adjourning for the summer, the US Supreme Court denied a rehearing in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association [Decision] [Denial of rehearing]. The 4-4 decision on March 29 affirmed the 9th Circuit decision which followed Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, and held that public-sector “agency shop” arrangements do not violate the First Amendment. Four-to-four affirmances do not set a precedent, so the result is that for now the law stays in status quo.
The petition for rehearing was sitting around at the Court for quite a while, and was rescheduled for consideration at the Court’s conferences eight times. Now the struggle is over. Finished. Done. Everybody can go home now.
We expect the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation to get another case rolling to the Supreme Court. This just might provide enough time for the President and the Senate to perform their duties and provide us with a ninth Supreme Court Justice.
Sent from Portland, Oregon on a partly cloudy morning – 69 degrees.
