Free speech, taxpayers score big win in Janus decision--unions lose

Today's decision in the Janus case is the best political news to come out of Illinois in my lifetime.

Mark Janus, a state of Illinois worker, is not a member of the AFSCME union, but still was forced to pay dues to them. He objected to that and the left-wing political message it fosters.

He sued and today he won.

From Fox News:

In a major legal and political defeat for big labor, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Wednesday that state government workers – whether they join the union or not – cannot be forced to pay so-called "fair share" fees to support collective bargaining and other union activities.

The conservative majority said a union's contract negotiations over pay and benefits were inextricably linked with its broader political activities, and concluded workers had a limited constitutional right not to underwrite such "speech."

“This procedure violates the First Amendment and cannot continue,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the majority opinion. “Neither an agency fee nor any other payment to the union may be deducted from a nonmember’s wages, nor may any other attempt be made to collect such a payment, unless the employee affirmatively consents to pay.”

While the current case applies only to public sector employees, the political and financial stakes are potentially huge for the broader American labor union movement, which had been sounding the alarm about the legal fight.

Public-sector unions in essence through their political actions is government lobbying for more government, which meant until today, more public-sector union members.

This is fantastic news.