Davenport v. Washington Education Association

A Washington State agency-shop agreement allowed unions to levy agency fees equivalent to one year of union membership dues on nonmembers. A state statute restricted the union from spending a nonmember’s agency fees for election-related purposes absent the nonmember’s affirmative authorization. The Washington Education Association teachers’ union (the union) (defendant), a collective-bargaining agent for approximately 70,000 state teachers, levied agency fees on nonmembers following the state’s agency-shop agreement. Twice a year, the union sent an information packet to nonmembers informing them of their rights to affirmatively object to the use of their agency fees for the union’s political purposes. Per this process, if a nonmember did not affirmatively object, the union then used the nonmember’s fees for political purposes. Nonmember teachers (plaintiffs) sued the union in state court, alleging the union’s protocol of requiring a nonmember to affirmatively object to the political use of the nonmember’s funds did not comply with the state statute’s affirmative-consent requirement. The union claimed that the statutory requirement of attaining affirmative authorization from nonmembers before spending the nonmembers’ agency fees for election-related purposes was unconstitutional. The trial judge stayed the proceedings pending interlocutory appeal. After appellate proceedings, the Washington Supreme Court held that the statutory requirement of affirmative authorization regarding the union’s use of nonmember fees violated the union’s First Amendment rights. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari.