The clearest impact may come in the union dispute, which has threatened to end requirements that public-sector workers in 20-plus states pay fees to their collective-bargaining representatives.
Scalia’s absence means that, even if union foes can win over swing justice Anthony Kennedy, they probably won’t do better than a 4-4 split. That would affirm a lower-court ruling backing labor unions, without setting a nationwide precedent. It would also leave intact a 1977 Supreme Court ruling allowing mandatory fees, a decision union opponents were hoping to overturn.
“What might previously have been a 5-4 ruling against fair-share fees could now be a 4-4 ruling affirming the lower court’s pro-union decision,” said Elizabeth Wydra, president of the Constitutional Accountability Center, which backs the union in the case.
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