--- title: Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Case Challenging Public Sector Union Fees description: The case could affect 7 million public sector employees in 20 states canonical: https://time.com/3941485/supreme-court-public-sector-union-fees/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-30T16:02:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T08:40:01.989Z article:section: Politics og:title: Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Case Challenging Public Sector Union Fees og:description: The case could affect 7 million public sector employees in 20 states og:url: https://time.com/3941485/supreme-court-public-sector-union-fees/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltadd00bd30a1c31c6/69885923a988ca576c6b347c/gettyimages-478979160.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: The Supreme Court Issues Orders On Lethal Injection And Redistricting og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Case Challenging Public Sector Union Fees twitter:description: The case could affect 7 million public sector employees in 20 states twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltadd00bd30a1c31c6/69885923a988ca576c6b347c/gettyimages-478979160.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Supreme Court to Hear Challenge to Union Fee Collection  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Jun 30, 2015 4:02 PM UTC  An American flag flies over the U.S. Supreme Court June 29, 2015 in Washington, DC. ( Mark Wilson/Getty Images) An American flag flies over the U.S. Supreme Court June 29, 2015 in Washington, DC. ( Mark Wilson/Getty Images)Mark Wilson—Getty Images  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Jun 30, 2015 4:02 PM UTC The Supreme Court announced Tuesday that it will hear a pivotal case against public-sector unions, deciding whether those unions can collect mandatory fees from non-members who benefit from collective bargaining. The challenge comes from 10 non-unionized public school teachers in California who argue that paying the fee violates their free speech rights. They’re asking the Supreme Court to overturn a precedent from the [1970s that allows public sector ](http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/30/us-usa-court-unions-idUSKCN0PA1PD20150630)unions to charges fees to non-union workers as long as the funds are not used for political activity. California teachers’ unions and state Attorney General Kamala Harris have opposed the challenge, while conservative Justices have criticized the union precedent in the past. The case could affect 7 million public sector employees in 20 states, Reuters [reports. ](http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/30/us-usa-court-unions-idUSKCN0PA1PD20150630) \[[Reuters](http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/30/us-usa-court-unions-idUSKCN0PA1PD20150630)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3941485/supreme-court-public-sector-union-fees/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3941485/supreme-court-public-sector-union-fees/"},"headline":"Supreme Court to Hear Challenge to Union Fee Collection","datePublished":"2015-06-30T16:02:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T08:40:01.989Z","description":"The case could affect 7 million public sector employees in 20 states","url":"https://time.com/3941485/supreme-court-public-sector-union-fees/","keywords":["Supreme Court","California","Unions","free speech","Kamala Harris"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltadd00bd30a1c31c6/69885923a988ca576c6b347c/gettyimages-478979160.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Charlotte Alter","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltadd00bd30a1c31c6/69885923a988ca576c6b347c/gettyimages-478979160.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Supreme Court Issues Orders On Lethal Injection And Redistricting","caption":"The Supreme Court Issues Orders On Lethal Injection And Redistricting","creditText":"Mark Wilson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/supreme-court/","name":"Supreme Court"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3941485/supreme-court-public-sector-union-fees/","name":"Supreme Court to Hear Challenge to Union Fee Collection"}}]}] ```