William F. Buckley’s Forgotten Contribution to the War Against Union Oppression

By Jeff Rhodes

The ongoing struggle to protect the right of public employees to disassociate themselves from unions whose values they don’t share has a number of heroes.

There’s Pamela Harris, for example, plaintiff in Harris v. Quinn, which affirmed the right of homecare providers to opt out of union membership and dues in 2014. Or Rebecca Friedrichs, whose lawsuit against the California Teachers Association would have extended the same right to all public employees had it not been interrupted by the death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. And Mark Janus, who finally championed those rights in Janus v. AFSCME.

But it’s worth remembering the path to freedom was pioneered years earlier by National Review founder, author, columnist, TV commentator, and liberal provocateur William F. Buckley Jr.

In fact, he waged a seven-year legal battle making the familiar argument that his First Amendment right to free speech was being impeded by laws requiring him to join (and support with his dues) the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

Although Buckley v. AFTRA didn’t relate specifically to public employees, as did later precedent-setters like Abood v. Detroit Board of Education (1977), Davenport v. WEA (2007), as well as Harris and Janus, Buckley’s attorneys nonetheless asserted that, since his TV show, “Firing Line,” was created on and broadcast by taxpayer-supported public television, the issue at stake differed fundamentally from similar disputes in the private sector, where “union shop” arrangements are a matter to be decided between labor and management.