Impact of Supreme Court’s Janus decision continues to expand, even beyond labor law

Bloomberg BNA published an interesting article looking at the expanding reach of the Supreme Court’s Janus decision in 2018, which held that public employers could not, under the First Amendment, be required to pay union dues or even a service fee. Many have predicted that Janus will have a major impact on unions in America. Its application to unionized workforces in the private sector is already being litigated. Bloomberg BNA’s article notes that its impact is expanding even beyond labor law:

• Legal commentators are debating whether it has heightened the protections afforded commercial speech under the First Amendment. Historically commercial speech has of course enjoyed less protection than political speech.
• It may have rendered unconstitutional laws in states that require attorney bar membership.
• It may mean that statutes, like Title VII, which require one party to pay the other’s attorney fees are unconstitutional.
• It may have rendered the NLRB’s longstanding rules that require, within limitations, that employers sometimes allow workers to wear political or pro-union buttons in the workplace.