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January 25, 2019|Federalism, public pensions crisis, Public Sector Unions

The Dismal Plight of Pension Burdened States

by John O. McGinnis|

shutterstock.com
Who wants to shoulder taxes for past services, particularly when the costs include inflated compensation to public sector unions?

February 26, 2018|Abood v. Board of Education, First Amendment, Friedrichs v. California, Harris v. Quinn, Janus v. American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Council 31, Knox v. SEIU, Public Sector Unions

Will the Janus Case Strike the Deathblow to Public Sector Unions?

by Mark Pulliam|

US Supreme Court, Washington DC,
A badly-flawed precedent is about to get KO’d in a rematch of a contest that last ended in a draw.

November 17, 2016|Norma Rae, Public Sector Unions, Wagner Act

The Decline of Self-Rule

by Mark Pulliam|

The signs are all around us that the government envisioned by the Framers—self-rule by the people—is on the decline.

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July 27, 2016|Anger, Free Tuition, Hobbes, Public Sector Unions, Social Security, Transfer State, Welfare State

The Welfare State’s War of All Against All

by John O. McGinnis|

I prefer to call the “welfare state” the transfer state, because that characterization leaves open the question of whether a government which engages in large-scale transfers of money from one group to another actually increases human welfare. I am skeptical, mostly because the transfer state is always in danger of creating a polity dominated by faction. It can in fact sustain the war of all against all—the very phenomenon that the state is supposed to prevent.

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November 30, 2015|Bruce Rauner, Campaign Finance, Illinois, Nicholas Confessore, Pat Quinn, Public Sector Unions

The New York Times Gets Money and Politics Wrong

by John O. McGinnis|

Nicholas Confessore’s long front-page article in Monday’s New York Times, “Rauner and his Wealthy Friends Are Remaking Illinois,” raises concerns about the power of rich individuals to influence elections. The article both subtly and overtly argues that rich people are using their money to overturn the kind of government citizens of Illinois want.  But it actually shows the importance of preserving the First Amendment right to push back against the ingrained biases of the government and the media, like the New York Times itself.

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October 2, 2015|Correction Officers, Max Schanzenbach, Police, Public Sector Unions, Scott Walker

Reducing the Power of Paramilitary Unions is a Civil Rights Issue

by John O. McGinnis|

The Department of Corrections in New York State has tried to fire many prison guards for unjustified force against inmates. They are generally unsuccessful because of the union contract. It gives substantial job protection rights to the correction officers, including the right to arbitration. Arbitration rarely results in dismissal because unions have a hand in picking the arbitrators.

The inability to dismiss bad apples in turn creates a culture of impunity. The inattention of numerous guards permitted two notorious murders to tunnel out of an upstate New York State prison. Two prison employees actively aided their escape. The result was not only millions of dollars in costs to New York State, but nights of terror for nearby residents with natural born killers on the loose. And then the guards brutalized inmates with no connection to the escape in a search for scapegoats to cover up their own misfeasance.

Reducing the power of public unions in paramilitary forces, like correction officers and the police force, is one of the great civil rights issues of our time.

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July 29, 2015|

Public Servants and the Future of Reform: Michael Toth Responds

by Michael Toth|

The state of Illinois, according to a recent article in the Chicago Tribune, is headed for a “pension doomsday.” So are other states. Across the country, unionized governments are a halfway house to nosebleed long-term pension and healthcare costs, giving politicians a Hobson’s choice. They can renege on existing collective bargaining agreements, hike taxes, or pare back social services. Interestingly, neither my Liberty Forum essay nor the responses to me focused on the fiscal train wreck aspect. This was most likely a subconscious choice on the part of the contributors, myself included, to leave aside the nuts and bolts of public finance and concentrate…

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July 24, 2015|Abood v. Board of Education, Freedom of Speech, Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, Harris v. Quinn, Public Sector Unions

Overruling Abood Will Correct a Travesty

by Mark Pulliam|

My first two posts in this series discussed, respectively, the origins of the concept of “exclusive representation” in the NLRA and the Supreme Court case law leading up to Abood in 1977.   In this post, I will analyze the decision in Abood (which, it will be recalled, was roundly criticized in Harris v. Quinn (2014) and may be overruled in Friedrichs). 

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July 22, 2015|Abood, collective bargaining, NLRA, Public Sector Unions

The Road to Abood: Part II

by Mark Pulliam|

My first post delved briefly into the history and significance of the concept of “exclusive representation” in labor law.  This post will explore the even more dubious application of the NLRA (private sector) model of collective bargaining (including exclusive representation) to the public sector. 

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July 17, 2015|

A Great Example of Judicial Restraint

by Adam White|

The Supreme Court is slowly but surely demonstrating, over a series of cases, that the First Amendment cannot plausibly be squared with public sector unions’ court-awarded power to require payments from non-members. The Court’s 1977 decision granting unions that extraordinary power, Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, is an anomaly that should be overturned next year in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association. Michael Toth makes these points well in his lead essay, as do Daniel DiSalvo, my Manhattan Institute colleague, in his response and in his terrific new book, and John Eastman in his own response. Alongside their comprehensive critiques, I would…

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Book Reviews

A Mirror of the 20th-Century Congress

by Joseph Postell

Wright undermined the very basis of his local popularity—the decentralized nature of the House—by supporting reforms that gave power to the party leaders.

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The Graces of Flannery O'Connor

by Henry T. Edmondson III

O'Connor's correspondence is a goldmine of piercing insight and startling reflections on everything from literature to philosophy to raising peacocks.

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Liberty Classics

Rereading Politica in the Post-Liberal Moment

by Glenn A. Moots

Althusius offers a rich constitutionalism that empowers persons to thrive alongside one another in deliberate communities.

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James Fenimore Cooper and the American Experiment

by Melissa Matthes

In The American Democrat, James Fenimore Cooper defended democracy against both mob rule and majority tyranny.

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Podcasts

Stuck With Decadence

A discussion with Ross Douthat

Ross Douthat discusses with Richard Reinsch his new book The Decadent Society.

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Can the Postmodern Natural Law Remedy Our Failing Humanism?

A discussion with Graham McAleer

Graham McAleer discusses how postmodern natural law can help us think more coherently about human beings and our actions.

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Did the Civil Rights Constitution Distort American Politics?

A discussion with Christopher Caldwell

Christopher Caldwell discusses his new book, The Age of Entitlement.

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America, Land of Deformed Institutions

A discussion with Yuval Levin

Yuval Levin pinpoints that American alienation and anger emerges from our weak political, social, and religious institutions.

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About

Law & Liberty’s focus is on the classical liberal tradition of law and political thought and how it shapes a society of free and responsible persons. This site brings together serious debate, commentary, essays, book reviews, interviews, and educational material in a commitment to the first principles of law in a free society. Law & Liberty considers a range of foundational and contemporary legal issues, legal philosophy, and pedagogy.

The opinions expressed on Law & Liberty are solely those of the contributors to the site and do not reflect the opinions of Liberty Fund.
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