Breaking News: Split Supreme Court Vote Sinks “Friedrichs”

This morning the U.S. Supreme Court announced a 4-4 tie vote on Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, a lawsuit in which Rebecca Friedrichs, an Orange County public school teacher, and other plaintiffs sought to deny teachers unions the ability to collect from their members “fair share” fees for collective bargaining. Because of the high court deadlock, the case, widely backed by ultra-conservative and right-to-work groups, reverts to a lower-court ruling in favor of the teachers unions.

This outcome of the closely watched suit, which could have crippled public employee unions, had been expected following the February 13 death of conservative Associate Justice Antonin Scalia. (Note: The CTA is a financial supporter of Capital & Main.)