Jun 14, 2007 -- Supreme Court Upholds Washington State Campaign Finance Law

The Supreme Court this morning, in Davenport v. Washington Education Association, unanimously upheld as constitutional a Washington State voter-approved campaign finance law requiring labor unions to obtain affirmative authorization ("opt-in") from non-members before using such non-members' agency shop fees for political purposes.

The Campaign Legal Center filed briefs in this case supporting the constitutionality of the state law and, by extension, similar "opt-in" requirements for union and corporate funding of election activity at the federal level and in at least fourteen states.

"The Court's decision today reaffirms that states may constitutionally regulate the use of union and corporate funds to influence elections," stated Campaign Legal Center Executive Director J. Gerald Hebert. "The Court soundly rejected the union's argument that it has a constitutional right to use any funds in its possession to influence elections—an argument which, if accepted by the Court, would have undermined campaign finance restrictions on unions and corporations at the federal level and in at least fourteen states."

The Court reasoned that Washington's requirement that non-members opt-in to supporting a union's political activities is a permissible check on the state law entitling unions to extract agency shop fees from non-members to cover the costs of collective bargaining. The opt-in requirement regarding union political spending, according to the Court, vindicates voters' "concern with the integrity of the election process" and is "limited to the state-created harm that the voters sought to remedy."