The U.S. Supreme Court has just ruled, in Davenport v. Washington Education Association (WEA), that states can require public school employee unions to obtain non‐​member teachers’ explicit consent before using their compulsory dues for political activities.


Hurray! Sort of.


This ruling is great as far as it goes, and Washington State’s Evergreen Freedom Foundation should be commended for all the hard (and smart) work it put in fighting this case on behalf of the state’s teachers.


This, however, is just a baby step in the right direction. It is still legal for unions to forcibly collect dues from non‐​members in states all across the country. This is a patent violation of the 13th Amendment’s injunction against involuntary servitude. To work in a public school, teachers MUST pay union dues in “agency shop” states, whether they want to or not. They must work for the financial benefit of others against their will. That is involuntary servitude.


The rationale for this practice is that anyone who benefits from the union’s actions should be compelled to pay for them. By the same argument, anyone who invests money and time landscaping their front yard, and thus raising their own and their neighbors’ property values, would be entitled to accost those neighbors, reach into their wallets, and pull out their “fair” share. Such a practice would be unthinkable, and yet the analogous practice of levying compulsory union dues is the law of the land in many states.


Which presidential candidates, I wonder, will be most likely to appoint justices who can see that simple fact?