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Ysursa v. Pocatello Education Association

Supreme Court of the United States · 2009 · Constitutional Law

Constitutional LawFirst AmendmentGovernment subsidy of speechPublic employee payroll deductionsFirst Amendmentcontent-based restrictionsstrict scrutinyrational basis

Facts

Idaho law allowed public employees to authorize payroll deductions for general union dues, but after the 2003 Voluntary Contributions Act, it prohibited payroll deductions for political activities. The unions challenged that prohibition but conceded its validity as applied to state-level employers, arguing only that it was unconstitutional when applied to county, municipal, school district, and other local public employers. The statute defined political activities to include electoral activities, independent expenditures, and expenditures to candidates, political parties, political action committees, political issues committees, or ballot measures. Idaho enforced the prohibition against all public employers, including political subdivisions.

Issue

Whether Idaho's ban on public-employee payroll deductions for political activities violates the First Amendment when applied to local government employers. More specifically, the question was whether the ban should receive strict scrutiny at the local level or instead be upheld as a permissible refusal to facilitate speech through government payroll systems.

Rule

A state does not abridge speech by declining to use government payroll mechanisms to assist the funding of political expression. Because the First Amendment does not impose an affirmative obligation on government to subsidize speech, a state's prohibition on public-employer payroll deductions for political activities is subject to rational basis review, and the same analysis applies to state and local governmental entities because political subdivisions are subordinate instrumentalities of the state.

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One of 10 multiple-choice questions for this case. Pick an answer to see why.

Oregon allows public employees in Salem to authorize payroll deductions for health premiums, retirement contributions, and general membership dues to employee associations. A new state statute bars all public employers from processing payroll deductions that remit money to political action committees or ballot-measure committees. A teachers' association claims the statute is a content-based burden on political speech.

What standard of review should a court apply to the association's First Amendment challenge?

Explanation. The controlling rule is that the First Amendment does not impose an affirmative obligation on government to subsidize speech. When a state refuses to use public payroll mechanisms to facilitate political expression, it is not abridging speech; it is declining to promote or assist it. Therefore strict scrutiny does not apply, and the restriction is reviewed under rational basis. (Derived from Ysursa v. Pocatello Education Association (2009).)