Liberty Justice Center
The Liberty Justice Center is an American nonprofit organization that provides free legal representation to individuals whose government rights are violated by the government. Most notably, the center is providing free legal representation to child support specialist Mark Janus of the U.S. Supreme Court case Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31.[1]
Overview[edit]
The Liberty Justice Center was founded in 2011 in Chicago. Its president is Pat Hughes, an Illinois political activist and attorney. Its vice president is Diana Rickert, formerly of the affiliated government watchdog group the Illinois Policy Institute. The center is nonpartisan, but was described by the Champaign News-Gazette newspaper in 2017 as having a “don't-tread-on-me approach toward political and economic freedom.”[2]
Cases[edit]
The center does not accept government funding of any kind, and has a selective caseload focused on suing the government. The center sued the city of Chicago in 2016 over its regulations for home-sharing, and according to the Chicago Tribune attorneys called the city’s regulations “draconian”.[3] The center has also sued the city of Chicago over its so-called “Netflix tax” on web-based streaming services.[4] The Chicago Tribune reported in 2015 that the center sued the village of Downers Grove in suburban Chicago over a ban on painted wall signs.[5] The center has also sued over Illinois’ campaign contribution limits.[6]
Harris v. Quinn[edit]
In 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Illinois woman Pam Harris in the case out of Illinois Harris v. Quinn. The ruling meant that thousands of home caregivers in Illinois and nationally were no longer classified as state employees, and no longer forced to pay union fees or dues. The Liberty Justice Center successfully petitioned the state to expand this ruling to home child care providers, meaning approximately 50,000 Illinois day care providers were no longer forced to pay dues to the SEIU.[7]
Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31[edit]
The center is best known for its work on the U.S. Supreme Court case Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31. The Court heard oral arguments in this case on Feb. 26, 2018.[8]
The case came about in March 2015, when three government workers from Illinois represented by attorneys from the Liberty Justice Center legal action to challenge union fair share dues. The case is named after Mark Janus, an Illinois child support specialist covered by a collective bargaining agreement. Janus claims that he should not need to pay fees to the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees because doing so constitutes paying for political speech with which Janus disagrees.[9] Under Illinois law, state government can require its employees to pay fees to a government union as a condition of employment.
References[edit]
- ↑ Janus, Mark. "Why I don't want to pay union dues". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2018-09-06.
- ↑ Dey, Jim (2017-06-01). "Jim Dey: Lawyer is a slugger in war on bad rules". The News-Gazette. Retrieved 2018-09-06.
- ↑ Marotti, Ally (2016-11-16). "Chicago's Airbnb home-sharing rules are 'draconian,' lawsuit says". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2018-09-06.
- ↑ Peterson, Josh. "Chicago sued for 'Netflix tax'". Watchdog.org. Retrieved 2018-09-06.
- ↑ Mannion, Annemarie. "Downers Grove man sues over new village ban on painted wall signs". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2018-09-06.
- ↑ Pearson, Rick (2012-07-25). "Illinois conservative group sues over campaign contribution limits". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2018-09-06.
- ↑ "Unionized Illinois day care providers no longer forced to pay $10 million to SEIU". Illinois Policy Institute. 2014-07-31. Retrieved 2018-09-06.
- ↑ "Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31 - SCOTUSblog". SCOTUSblog. Retrieved 2018-09-06.
- ↑ https://ljc-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/2016/12/Rauner-v.-AFSCME-120-First-Amended-Complaint-2015.06.01.pdf
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