Ninth Circuit Grants Friedrichs’ Motion: Next Stop — Supreme Court

A three judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued an order granting the plaintiffs’ Motion for Summary Affirmance on the Pleadings. That means Rebecca Friedrichs and her co-plaintiffs are now free to petition the Supreme Court for review of their challenge to compulsory union dues. From the beginning, Friedrichs and her co-plaintiffs have argued that the only court that has the authority to grant them the relief they request is the Supreme Court. Accordingly, they asked both the district court and court of appeals to decide the case on the basis of the pleadings quickly — without trial or oral argument — so the case can move promptly the Supreme Court.

Today’s order means that the district court judgment in favor of the defendant unions is affirmed as a matter of law on the basis of existing Supreme Court precedent. The plaintiffs will now appeal that judgment to the Supreme Court, where they will ask the Court to overrule its precedent that allows states to mandate union dues.