[EL] Serious Question About Knox v. SEIU

[Samuel Bagenstos]

Maybe.  But (a) maybe every insurance company in my state is engaged in some ideological/political expenditures (if not all on the same side or the same issue), and I'd just prefer that my money go to paying claims and associated administrative expenses rather than subsidizing political speech on issues that I have not made my own; and (b) I don't necessarily have to work in the public sector, not all public sector jobs are unionized, and not all unionized public sector jobs are represented by the same union.  If I don't like AFT, I can work as a teacher in a private school (where, if I have a union, it won't be a public sector one), or a charter school (where if I try to unionize they'll fire me for sure!), or I can work in a next-door district represented by NEA.

Samuel R. Bagenstos
Professor of Law
University of Michigan Law School
625 S. State St.
Ann Arbor, MI  48109
sambagen at umich.edu
http://web.law.umich.edu/_FacultyBioPage/facultybiopagenew.asp?ID=411
http://disabilitylaw.blogspot.com/
Twitter: @sbagen





On Jun 22, 2012, at 9:48 AM, Richard Winger wrote:

> I think the problem with this very thoughtful analogy is that you have a choice of auto insurance companies, and a choice of health insurance companies.  But if you are a worker in a union shop, you don't have a choice of labor unions; there is only one.
> 
> Richard Winger
> 415-922-9779
> PO Box 470296, San Francisco Ca 94147
> 
> --- On Fri, 6/22/12, Samuel Bagenstos <sbagen at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> From: Samuel Bagenstos <sbagen at gmail.com>
> Subject: [EL] Serious Question About Knox v. SEIU
> To: law-election at uci.edu
> Date: Friday, June 22, 2012, 6:44 AM
> 
> Yesterday's decision in Knox v. SEIU, and particularly the broad dicta in the majority opinion, lead me to ask the following question:  If I live in a state where (a) state law requires me to buy liability insurance as a condition of registering a car, and (b) some or all of the auto insurance companies in my state spend money to advocate for or against ballot propositions regarding insurance regulation, am I constitutionally entitled to a rebate of the portion of my premium that went to such expenditures?  Is the insurance company required to make a Hudson-style disclosure of its political and ideological expenditures so I can opt out?
> 
> There could be an easy or obvious answer to this question, but I am interested in others' thoughts.
> 
> Samuel R. Bagenstos
> Professor of Law
> University of Michigan Law School
> 625 S. State St.
> Ann Arbor, MI  48109
> sambagen at umich.edu
> http://web.law.umich.edu/_FacultyBioPage/facultybiopagenew.asp?ID=411
> http://disabilitylaw.blogspot.com/
> Twitter: @sbagen
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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