Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/17pdf/16-1466_2b3j.pdf
Page Number: 5.0

Cite as:  585 U. S. ____ (2018) 

5 

Syllabus 

agency shop,” Harris, 573 U. S., at ___–___, but experience has shown 
otherwise.  It  was  also  decided  when  public-sector  unionism  was  a 
relatively  new  phenomenon.    Today,  however,  public-sector  union 
membership  has  surpassed  that  in  the  private  sector,  and  that  as-
cendency  corresponds  with  a  parallel  increase  in  public  spending. 
Abood  is  also  an  anomaly  in  the  Court’s  First  Amendment  jurispru-
dence,  where  exacting  scrutiny,  if  not  a  more  demanding  standard,
generally applies.  Overruling Abood will also end the oddity of allow-
ing public employers to compel union support (which is not supported
by any tradition) but not to compel party support (which is supported
by tradition), see, e.g., Elrod v. Burns, 427 U. S. 347.  Pp. 42–44. 

(4) Reliance  on  Abood  does  not  carry  decisive  weight.    The  uncer-
tain status of Abood, known to unions for years; the lack of clarity it
provides;  the  short-term  nature  of  collective-bargaining  agreements;
and the ability of unions to protect themselves if an agency-fee provi-
sion  was  crucial  to  its  bargain  undermine  the  force  of  reliance. 
Pp. 44–47. 

3. For these reasons, States and public-sector unions may no longer
extract  agency  fees  from  nonconsenting  employees.    The  First 
Amendment  is  violated  when  money  is  taken  from  nonconsenting
employees  for  a  public-sector  union;  employees  must  choose  to  sup-
port the union before anything is taken from them.  Accordingly, nei-
ther  an  agency  fee  nor  any other  form  of payment  to  a  public-sector
union may be deducted from an employee, nor may any other attempt
be made to collect such a payment, unless the employee affirmatively 
consents to pay.  Pp. 48–49. 

851 F. 3d 746, reversed and remanded. 

ALITO, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which ROBERTS, C. J., 
and KENNEDY, THOMAS, and, GORSUCH, JJ., joined.  SOTOMAYOR, J., filed 
a  dissenting  opinion.  KAGAN,  J.,  filed  a  dissenting  opinion,  in  which 
GINSBURG, BREYER, and SOTOMAYOR, JJ., joined.