Scalia's death saves extortion racket of California teachers union

I'm not going to go so far as to accuse liberals of being happy that Antonin Scalia died (even though I saw a few on Facebook who unapologetically were). I don't think it would be accurate to generalize that there was a yay death spirit permeating the entire left. But what I will say is this: Power politics is all the time for the left, and they really don't care what kind of advantage they're handed. They'll take advantage of it. And nowhere is power politics more essential to the left than in the realm of the public employee unions - which could not exist at all if not for laws mandating that they must - and that public employees must pay dues to them whether they want to or not. At oral arguments in December, it looked as if Friedrichs vs. California Teachers Assn. was going to go the way of plaintiff Rebecca Friedrichs, a veteran teacher who was tired of paying dues to an organization she didn't even want to be a member of. Although a lower court had found in favor of the union, a 5-man majority of the Justices seemed to be leaning toward the view that public employees have the right to make the decision.

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But that was before Antonin Scalia's death, which eliminated that 5-man majority. Today the Court issued its ruling, and because it ended up in 4-4 tie, the lower court ruling stands, and Rebecca Friedrichs's rights continue to be denied:

The split decision preserves a long-standing rule that requires about half of the nation's teachers, transit workers and other public employees to pay a "fair share fee" to support their union. The tie vote will come as a relief to union officials who feared the conservative court was on the brink of striking down the pro-union laws that authorized these fees. But the death of Justice Antonin Scalia left the court without a majority to rule on the issue. It's also the strongest sign yet that the court's conservatives cannot muster a majority to rule in their favor. At the oral argument in December, it looked as though the mandatory union dues would be struck down. The National Education Assn. -- the nation's largest union, with 3 million members -- hailed the decision as a victory. “The U.S. Supreme Court today rejected a political ploy to silence public employees like teachers, school bus drivers, cafeteria workers, higher education faculty and other educators to work together to shape their profession,” said NEA President Lily Eskelsen García.

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You have to love the NEA's Orwellian language here. Giving public employees the free choice of not paying union dues is silencing them? I can't even come up with the adjective to describe the chutzpah that statement requires. Let this be a reminder that, contrary to Democrat and media arguments, the Republican-controlled Senate is doing its job by refusing to confirm Merrick Garland. Understanding that requires you to understand this: The job of the Senate is not to hold hearings or take votes. It's to protect the constitutional rights of the American people. The process by which they do so is mere detail. We see today that there are already four members of the Supreme Court who are willing to subjigate the rights of the people to the agenda of public employee unions nd other left-wing interest groups. Confirming a fifth Justice who is willing to do the same would be a dereliction of the duty of any senator. That is also true of Democrat senators, but they obviously don't care. The Republican Senate majority is the only thing that now stands in between the American people and more constitution-busting rulings like this. I don't care how much liberals and the media don't like it, and I don't care how impressive Judge Garland's resume is. If he is confirmed, the Constitution no longer has any meaning. Thus, he cannot be confirmed.

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