Jewish profs ask Supreme Court to free them from forced 'anti-Semitic' union representation

Several Jewish professors are asking the Supreme Court of the United States to invalidate a New York law that makes a union their exclusive representative in employment negotiations. The professors believe the union, PSC-CUNY, is "anti-Semitic and anti-Israel" and challenge the law as an abridgment of their First Amendment rights.

The objectionable PSC-CUNY activity includes a resolution accusing Israel of committing a "massacre" against Palestinians and calling for the union to consider the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement.

Lower courts sided against the professors. The Fairness Center, a nonprofit, public interest law firm that provides free legal services to those claiming injury by public-sector union officials, and the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. Both are supporting the professors in their appeal to the Supreme Court pro bono.

"The union . . . has the power to make statements and resolutions that appear to bear the imprimatur of the entire CUNY teaching staff," National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation media coordinator Jacob Comello told Just The News.

"The professors in this case believe that the union’s extremism and radical statements/resolutions directly affect their working conditions (even if those aren’t technically made within the union’s monopoly bargaining capacity)," Comello continued.

The petition asking the Supreme Court to grant certiorari argues that the challenged "Taylor Law" abridges the professors' First Amendment rights by "prohibit[ing] individuals from dissociating from a union's representation to protest that union's expressive activities."

"Our clients argue that forcing public employees to associate with a union whose views they abhor violates their First Amendment rights, whether or not these statements occur during collective bargaining," Fairness Center President and General Counsel Nathan McGrath told Just The News.

The petition ties the alleged "anti-Semitic and anti-Israel" to two union statements.

On June 10, 2021, PSC-CUNY passed a "resolution in support of the Palestinian people." The resolution condemned "escalating violence against Palestinians" and "Israel’s pattern and practice of dispossession and expansion of settlements."

The resolution "condemn[ed] the massacre of Palestinians by the Israeli state" and encouraged the union to consider support for the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement.

The union "persisted" in its allegedly "anti-Semitic and anti-Israel" rhetoric after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel in a statement on April 22, 2024. For its part, the PSC claims to have "condemned the Hamas attack of October 7" on Israel.

The statement "condemn[ed] the recent actions of Columbia University administration to suppress student protest[s]" opposed to Israel, a reference to campus protests that roiled American higher education after Israel began its war against Hamas.

Lower courts hearing the professors' challenge held that Supreme Court precedent foreclosed the challenge. The professors are asking the Supreme Court to correct the lower courts' "misreading" of the precedent and vindicate the professors' First Amendment rights.

The respondents include PSC-CUNY, CUNY, N.Y. Public Employment Relations Board Chairperson John Wirenius and members Rosemary Townley and Anthony Zumbolo, the City of New York, and N.Y. Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.

None replied by press time to a Just The News request for comment on the petition.