<p>The effects of Justice Scalia&rsquo;s untimely death have never been more apparent than yesterday when labor unions won a case that had seemed all but impossible. ;</p>
<p>The high-profile dispute challenged the union practice of collecting fees from workers who choose not to join their unions. ;</p>
<p><em>Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association</em> ;involves a group of teachers suffering from that very practice. ;Despite the fact that she does not belong to a union, public school teacher and lead plaintiff Rebecca Friedrichs is forced to pay nearly $650 a year to cover bargaining costs.</p>
<p> ;Union officials say these fees are necessary because unions represent all workers in their sectors &ndash; not just union members. President Lee Saunders of the American Federal of State called the case a &ldquo;political attack&rdquo; on unions. ;</p>
<p>The final vote was a deadlock. There&#8217;s no doubt ;Justice Scalia would have voted to outlaw the 40-year old union system, bringing the vote to 5-4. ;Instead, the decision fell to the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, which decided to uphold the practice. This is a major blow to groups that have spent years trying to convince the court to overrule the 1977 precedent (<em>Abood v. Detroit Board of Education</em>) that allows unions to demand &ldquo;fair share&rdquo; fees from both members and non-members. ;</p>
<p><em>The court&rsquo;s decision will affect more than 5 million workers in the US. ;</em></p>
<p>Public unions, on the other hand, were overjoyed with the Supreme Court &ldquo;tie.&rdquo; NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia called the case a &ldquo;political ploy to silence public employees like teachers, school bus drivers, cafeteria workers, higher education faculty, and other educators to work together to shape their profession,&rdquo; and referred to it as a matter of &ldquo;workplace rights.&rdquo; ;</p>
<p><em>Whose rights, I wonder? ;</em></p>
<p>Meanwhile, Senate Republicans remain staunch in their refusal to even hold hearings on Supreme Court nominees until the next president takes office&hellip;meaning there will likely be more 4-4 votes in the months to come (despite the fact that Supreme Court Justices are supposed to be above partisan politics). ;</p>
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