Supreme Court Report

Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →

Susan Bennett v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31, AFL-CIO, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, No. 20-1621 · judgment March 12, 2021

Certiorari denied · November 1, 2021
Pre-decision estimate: 6% cert probability (95% interval 3%–10%)

Before the decision, modestly above the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a petition filed soon after the judgment below, a circuit split argued in the petition, and counsel who has filed here before.

Question presented

In Janus v. AFSCME, Council 31, 138 S. Ct. 2448, 2486 (2018), this Court held that no payment to a union may be deducted from a nonmembers’ paycheck unless a government employee “affirmatively consents” to waive her First Amendment rights not to pay money to a union. The question in this case is: Whether an employee’s signature on a union membership card and dues deduction authorization by itself authorizes a government employer and public-sector union to withhold union dues or other fees from an employee’s wages consistent with this Court’s affirmative consent waiver requirement set forth in Janus?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Jeffrey Michael Schwab
Liberty Justice Center

For respondent
Jacob Raffel Karabell
Bredhoff & Kaiser, P.L.L.C.

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences

Amicus briefs
4 cert-stage

Proceedings

  1. Nov 01 2021
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Oct 13 2021
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 10/29/2021.
  3. Oct 12 2021
    Reply of petitioner Susan Bennett filed. (Distributed)
    Main DocumentCertificate of Word CountProof of Service
  4. Sep 27 2021
    Brief of respondents AFSCME Council 31, et al. in opposition filed.
    Main DocumentProof of ServiceCertificate of Word Count
  5. Sep 27 2021
    Brief of respondents Kwame Raoul, et al. in opposition filed.
    Main DocumentProof of ServiceCertificate of Word Count
  6. Aug 26 2021
    Brief amicus curiae of Freedom Foundation filed.
    Main DocumentCertificate of Word CountProof of Service
  7. Aug 26 2021
    Brief amici curiae of Goldwater Institute, et al. filed.
    Main DocumentCertificate of Word CountProof of Service
  8. Aug 26 2021
    Brief amici curiae of Joanne Troesch, et al. filed.
    Main DocumentCertificate of Word CountProof of Service
  9. Aug 25 2021
    Brief amicus curiae of Pacific Legal Foundation filed. VIDED.
    Main DocumentCertificate of Word CountProof of Service
  10. Aug 04 2021
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including September 27, 2021, for all respondents.
  11. Aug 03 2021
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from August 26, 2021 to September 27, 2021, submitted to The Clerk.
    Main Document
  12. Jul 27 2021
    Response Requested. (Due August 26, 2021)
  13. Jun 23 2021
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/27/2021.
  14. Jun 23 2021
    Waiver of right of respondent Moline-Coal Valley School District No. 40 to respond filed.
    Main Document
  15. Jun 15 2021
    Waiver of right of respondents AFSCME Council 31, AFL-CIO; AFSCME Local 672 to respond filed.
    Main Document
  16. Jun 11 2021
    Waiver of right of respondents Kwame Raoul, Andrea Waintroob, Judy Biggert, Gilbert O'Brien, Jr., Lynne Sered, and Lara Shayne to respond filed.
    Main Document
  17. May 14 2021
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due June 17, 2021)
    PetitionAppendixCertificate of Word CountProof of Service