The U.S. Supreme Court today agreed to review an Idaho state law that bars school districts and other local government agencies from making deductions from union members’ paychecks for the unions’ political activities.
The court accepted the state’s appeal in Ysursa v. Pocatello Education Association (Case No. 07-869), in which the state is defending the federal constitutionality of its Voluntary Contributions Act. The law was passed in 2003, and was challenged by the Idaho Education Association, its Pocatello local, and other public employee unions in the state.
The ruling below by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, in San Francisco, which struck down the VCA, is here.
UPDATE I: SCOTUSBlog has the state’s appeal here, the unions’ response here, and a friend-of-the-court brief by several groups on the state’s side here.
I’m working on a Web story on this grant this morning, so there should be more on edweek.org soon. UPDATE II: My Web story is now available here.