Three years ago this month, the Supreme Court protected the First Amendment rights of public employees. In Janus v. AFSCME, Justice Samuel Alito wrote that requiring nonmember workers to help fund government unions violated the employees’ free speech rights “by compelling them to subsidize private speech on matters of substantial public concern.” At its core, Janus recognized the impossibility of distinguishing between clearly political causes—for which even union leaders conceded that they could not charge non-members—and allegedly apolitical workplace matters, for which unions could demand an “agency fee.”
