Knox v. Service Employees International Union, Local 1000
| Diane Knox v. Service Employees International Union | |
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| Argued January 10, 2012 Decided June 21, 2012 |
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| Full case name | Knox et al. v. Service Employees International Union, local 1000 |
| Docket nos. | 10-1121 |
| Argument | Oral argument |
| Prior history | Petitioners granted summary judgment, US Dis. Ct.; District Court reversed by 9th Ckt. Ct. |
| Holding | |
| The case is not moot, the First Amendment does not permit a public-sector union to impose a special assessment without the affirmative consent of a member upon whom it is imposed. | |
| Court membership | |
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| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Alito, joined by Roberts, Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas |
| Concurrence | Sotomayor, joined by Ginsburg |
| Dissent | Breyer, joined by Kagan |
| Laws applied | |
| U.S. Const. amend. I | |
Knox v. Service Employees International Union, 567 U.S. 310 (2012), is a US constitutional law case. The United States Supreme Court held in a 7-2 decision that Diana Knox and other non-members of the Service Employees International Union did not receive the required notice of a $12 million assessment the union charged them to raise money for the union's political fund. In a tighter 5-4 ruling, the court further held that the long-standing precedent, the First Amendment requirement that non-union members covered by union contracts be given the chance to "opt out" of special fees was insufficient. Setting new precedent, the majority ruled that non-members shall be sent notice giving them the option to opt into special fees.
Under Abood v. Detroit Board of Education (1977) states may allow unions to charge nonmember workers “fair share” fees to prevent the free rider problem of nonmembers benefiting from a union’s collective bargaining gains. Nonmembers must annually opt out of paying full union membership dues after the union sends a Hudson notice of what portion of the dues is chargeable to collective bargaining costs. California is one of the states that allow for such an “agency shop”.
Arnold Schwarzenegger won a recall election against California Governor Gray Davis in November 2003. Governor Schwarzenegger then proposed a broad fiscal reform agenda and called a 2005 special election to pass several ballot proposition and initiative constitutional amendments. One of these, Proposition 75 would have required union nonmembers to affirmatively opt into paying full union dues instead of needing to opt out.
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