Scott Wilford, et al. v. National Education Association, et al.

Petitioners are public school teachers in the State of California who declined to join a public union. They seek a refund of the fair-share fees that public-sector unions forcibly took from them and that this Court invalidated in Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31, 138 S. Ct. 2448 (2018). The Ninth Circuit rejected Petitioners’ claims and allowed the Respondent unions to keep their ill-gotten gains, concluding that 42 U.S.C. § 1983 provides the unions with a good-faith defense. That ruling presents several, distinct questions for this Court’s review:

1. Whether the Ninth Circuit erred by basing a defense to § 1983 on “equality and fairness” rather than determining whether the common law in 1871 provided a good-faith defense to a private party for the most analogous tort.

2. Whether the remedy Petitioners seek is equitable restitution such that a good-faith defense to money damages, if it exists, does not apply.

3. Whether a good-faith defense, if it exists, applies only to individuals, not legal entities like the Respondent unions.

4. Whether the Ninth Circuit erred by failing to give Janus truly retroactive effect.