In light of the 2017-2018 U.S. Supreme Court term ending and the 2018-2019 Supreme Court term beginning with new Justice Brett Kavanaugh, school district personnel must be mindful of the recent Supreme Court holdings and significant cases the Court may hear this term.Interested in learning more about these cases and Justice Kavanaugh? If you are a Husch Blackwell client or a member of the Council of the Great City Schools, join us next Monday, December 10, at 2:30 Eastern Daylight Time for a complimentary continuing legal education webinar. Click here to register.
One of the cases we will discuss is Janus v. Am. Fed’n of State, Cty., & Mun. Employees, Council 31. In this case, the Supreme Court held that requiring fair-share fees in the public sector violates the First Amendment of the Constitution. This means that government employees represented by a union, but do not belong to that union, cannot be required to pay a fee to cover the union’s costs to negotiate a contract that applies to all employees. This decision could cripple public sector unions by reducing their resources and members and could greatly affect a union’s ability to speak as one unified voice for its members, hurting the union’s political strength and overall effectiveness.
Our webinar will discuss the potential impacts Justice Kavanaugh might have on the Supreme Court as it relates to urban education. We will discuss Justice Kavanaugh’s path to the Supreme Court as well as his constitutional viewpoints and judicial philosophy. In addition to this webinar, please also look to this prior blog post regarding Justice Kavanaugh and education law.
Our webinar will also discuss in detail cases pending in the lower courts. One case we will discuss is Student for Fair Admissions v. Harvard University. This case involves a lawsuit filed by a group of Asian students alleging that Harvard’s race conscious admissions policy is discriminatory against them. After a three-week trial in Boston that ended on November 2, 2018, the parties’ respective versions of the salient facts and legal justifications are due December 19, 2018. The final arguments in this case are set to take place on February 13, 2019.