The Atlantic

Judgment Day for Public Unions

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case that could deal a serious blow to American organized labor.
Source: Joshua Roberts / Reuters

Public-sector unions are heading back to the U.S. Supreme Court in a case that could deal a devastating blow. The justices agreed on Thursday to hear a challenge to the unions’s fee system in its upcoming term, setting up a major clash on organized labor one year after the Court deadlocked in a similar case.

The Court took up in its first orders of the 2017-2018 term. The case centers on public-sector unions’ ability to collect what are known as agency fees, also sometimes called “fair-share fees.” It works like this: To

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