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The Supreme Court and right-to-work
With the recent appointment of Justice Neil M. Gorsuch to the Supreme Court (to fill
the vacancy left by the late Justice Scal-
ia), we thought it might be important to
with free speech under the First Amendment, or those that impactpubliceducation,theSecondAmendmentright to bear arms or the operations of unions will remain
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review the role that the Supreme Court plays and discuss a case currently on the court’s docket dealing with an issue com- monly known as “fair share” members.
FOP
Labor Report
intact or be stricken.
The Supreme Court’s importance in the United
The Supreme Court consists of the Chief Justice of the United States (currently John G. Roberts Jr.) and eight associate justices: Gorsuch, Anthony M. Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Ste- phen G. Breyer, Samuel A. Alito Jr., Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. The president of the United States has the power to nominate the justices, who in turn are either con- firmed or rejected by the Senate. Once appointed, they re-
tain the position for life.
Although one hears a great deal of rhetoric on how the
passage of laws may impact our lives, the truth is that the nine justices do more to shape our laws than we think. The best-known power of the Supreme Court is judicial review, or the ability of the court to declare a legislative or executive act to be a violation of the Constitution. With a single deci- sion, a majority of justices can decide whether laws dealing
States’ constitutional system of government cannot be overstated. Since the court has the power of judi- cial review, it plays a significant part in ensuring that each branch of government recognizes the limits of its own power. Also, the Supreme Court is the highest court in the
land, so no other appeals or reviews are available.
Further, the Supreme Court protects civil rights and lib- erties by striking down laws that violate the Constitution. Finally, the Supreme Court sets appropriate limits on demo- cratic government by ensuring that popular majorities can- not pass laws that harm and/or take undue advantage of un- popular minorities. In essence, it seeks to make certain that the ever-changing views of a majority do not undermine our
fundamental values and principals.
Which brings us to today. Prior to Justice Scalia’s passing,
the Supreme Court’s docket contained a high-profile pub- lic-sector union case. In Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, a teacher from California challenged the prac- tices of public unions. Specifically, the Supreme Court was
18 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ APRIL 2018