So argues a Cato Institute amicus brief in the important pending case of Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, which builds on the Court’s recent First Amendment precedents in Knox v. SEIU (2012) and Harris v. Quinn (2014) [Andrew Grossman and Ilya Shapiro]
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“acceptance of the opt-out approach appears to have come about more as a historical accident than through the careful application of First Amendment principles.”
Horse puckey. It was deliberate – the unions had their minions in the legislatures write it that way.
You are wrong. The opt out approach for Union political actions was created by the courts. Congress / state legislatures wrote the laws with no opt out option at all.
However, after numerous lawsuits were filled by non-union members in open shops opposed to political activities that the union was funding with their mandatory fees, SCOTUS declared that this was a violation of the non-member’s 1A rights and that the unions had to refund that portion of the fees used for political activities if the non-members objected.