By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog
The taxpayers (and their children) just took another one on the chin, Save Jerseyans.
The worst part? What could’ve been a blue state political game-changer is now just another legal footnote without the conservative leadership of the late Justice Antonin Scalia.
On Tuesday, the Court split 4-4 on Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, handing a major legal defeat to California teachers who had stepped up to take on a fascist state law requiring all non-union employees to pay dues to public employee unions. Their challenge was predicated on a First Amendment argument against so-called ‘agency shop’ regulations and a law that compels employees to affirmatively opt-out of participating in a public sector union’s political speech.
The split doesn’t establish a new legal precedent but it does uphold the decision of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals covering California and eight other Western U.S. states. The best way to describe today’s opinion? A lost opportunity.
Had Scalia participated in the ruling, a likely 5-4 split against the CTA might’ve dealt a fatal blow to teachers unions across the country including the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) that stymie educational reform and use their dues to directly influence state and national politics…
Developing…
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The last thing anyone needs is 9th Circuit decisions being allowed to stand.
At moments like this is when we really miss Justice SCALIA !!
Thanks Scalia, couldn’t have done it without you!!!
No one respects you
What happens with these 4-4 splits, I know the lower court’s decision is upheld, but does the losing side get to bring it back up to a full SCOTUS?