Center of the American Experiment Files amicus brief with U.S. Supreme Court challenging forced exclusive representation by unions: 17 groups sign on to CAE’s petition

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Center of the American Experiment filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear Uradnik v. Inter Faculty Organization, which calls for an immediate end to laws that force public-sector employees to accept a union’s exclusive representation. The case, filed by The Buckeye Institute, is the first major post-Janus labor challenge filed with the United States Supreme Court. The counsel of record is Andrew Grossman of BakerHostetler.

Upon filing the brief, Kim Crockett, vice president and general counsel of Center of the American Experiment, said:

“Professor Kathy Uradnik, from right here in Minnesota, has bravely taken a stand demanding her First Amendment rights by asking the U.S. Supreme Court to end unfair laws that force her, and other Minnesotans, to speak through a union she is not a member of. Her union—the Inter Faculty Organization (IFO) at St. Cloud State University—created a system that discriminates against non-union faculty members, and Minnesota law forces Kathy to accept this second-class treatment.

“The Janus v. AFSCME decision raised serious questions about the constitutionality of exclusive representation—questions which the U.S. Supreme Court needs to resolve. Kathy’s case, brought by The Buckeye Institute, gives the court the opportunity to address what Justice Samuel Alito called, ‘a significant impingement on associational freedoms that would not be tolerated in other contexts.’”

Seventeen groups signed on to American Experiment’s amicus brief including: the Alaska Policy Forum, Americans for Lawful Unionism, Americans for Tax Reform, the Beacon Center of Tennessee, the Center for Worker Freedom, the Freedom Foundation, the Illinois Policy Institute, the Liberty Justice Center—which successfully argued Janus v. AFSCME, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, Maine Heritage Policy Center, Montana Policy Institute, Nevada Policy Research Institute, Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity, Rio Grande Foundation, Stephen Hopkins Center for Civil Rights, and the Wyoming Liberty Group.

Professor Uradnik’s case was filed on July 6, 2018, in the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota, with a preliminary injunction motion filed on July 31, 2018. The motion for preliminary injunction was denied on September 27, 2018, and The Buckeye Institute immediately filed its notice of appeal and asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit to quickly deny its motion so the case could be appealed directly to the U.S. Supreme Court. On December 4, 2018, The Buckeye Institute filed its appeal in Uradnik v. Inter Faculty Organization with the Supreme Court of the United States—the first major post-Janus labor challenge before the court. The counsel of record is Andrew Grossman of Baker Hostetler.

You can read Professor Uradnik’s commentary in the St. Cloud Times here.