Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/11pdf/10-1121c4d6.pdf
Page Number: 38.0

Cite as:  567 U. S. ____ (2012) 

5 

BREYER, J., dissenting 

Nonetheless  this  kind  of  system  enjoys  an  offsetting 
It  bases  fees  upon  audited  ac-
administrative  virtue. 
counts,  thereby  avoiding  the  difficulties  and  disagree-
ments  that  would  surround  an  effort  to  determine  the 
relevant proportions by  trying to measure union expendi-
tures as they occur or by trying to make predictions about
the  nature  of  future  expenditures.    It  consequently  gives 
workers  reliable  information.    It  gives  workers  advance 
notice of next year’s payable charge.  It gives nonmembers
a “reasonably prompt” opportunity to object.  Hudson, 475 
U. S.,  at  310.    And,  where  the  chargeable  share  of  next
year’s expenses (Year Two) turns out to be lower than last 
year’s  (Year  One),  it  provides  offsetting  compensation  in
the  form  of  a  lower  payable  share  for  the  following  year 
(Year Three).

In  any  event,  these  features  are  characteristic  of  an
administrative  system  that  “calculat[es]”  shares  of  a  un-
ion’s fee “on the basis of its expenses during the preceding 
year.”  Id.,  at  307,  n. 18.    Hudson  stated  specifically  that
the  “[u]nion  cannot  be  faulted  for  calculating  its  fee”  on
that  basis.  Ibid.    And  no  party  here  has  challenged  the 
constitutional validity of that basic administrative system.
See Tr. of Oral Arg. 13. 

III 
If  the  union’s  basic  administrative  system  does  not
violate  the  Constitution,  then  how  could  its  special  as-
sessment have done so?  In my view, it did not violate the 
Constitution,  and  I  shall  explain  my  basis  for  thinking 
so  by  considering  separately  (1)  those  nonmembers  who 
objected initially to the 2005 Hudson notice, and (2) those 
nonmembers who did not initially object. 

A 
The  special  assessment  as  administered  here  has
worked  no  constitutional  harm  upon  those  nonunion  em-