Supreme Court 4-4 Tie Deals Victory to Public Employee Unions

The Supreme Court has deadlocked four to four in a key case that could have undermined the power of public employee unions, effectively dealing a major victory to the unions. Following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia last month, the eight-member court split over whether public employee unions can continue to collect mandatory dues from workers who benefit from collective bargaining even though they decline to join the union. The split leaves in place a lower court ruling allowing unions to continue to collect the fees. It’s the clearest example to date of the impact Scalia’s death has had on the court; he had made it clear during questioning that he sided against the unions.