Rep. Keith Ellison (D., Minn.), vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee, condemned the Supreme Court’s ruling against mandatory union dues for state employees Wednesday, implying corruption at the Court.
He said those with money have backed the "partisan" justices on the Court who decided the Janus v. AFSCME decision, which ruled 5-4 that state and local public-sector unions cannot mandate union dues. The majority included the newest justice, Neil Gorsuch, who was appointed by President Donald Trump and has been accused of favoring corporate interests.
"It is more evidence this is extremely partisan Court who believes that rich people don't have enough money and everybody else has too much. That is what is going on," Ellison said. "This decision is not firmly rooted on any First Amendment principle. It is rooted on he who has the gold makes the rules. That's basically it."
Ellison opposed Gorsuch’s nomination, saying it was "theft," and Tuesday he accused Gorsuch of being corrupted by "paymasters." He said the majority "absolutely" did not arrive at its decision based on freedom of association principles embedded in the First Amendment.
"The decision was decided the day that Mitch McConnell refused to seat the nominee of Barack Obama. The moment Neil Gorsuch was appointed, he was there really, in my opinion, for one main reason, and that is to vote the way he did in the Janus decision," Ellison said. "A First Amendment right is the freedom of association for workers, that is the real freedom of the First Amendment issue. This idea that a basic fee sort of cost for negotiating a contract is somehow invoking a First Amendment production to me is just ridiculous."
Saying those union dues are "essential," Ellison said unions will nevertheless continue to organize. He added that the decision may even have ushered in a "new era of labor unrest."
"What the Supreme Court has really done is introduced into a new era of labor unrest. We could expect negotiations and not have many work stoppages," he said. "They introduced a degree of uncertainty so that working people are going to have to sort of look out for themselves a lot more."
Ellison is not the only one to target Gorsuch for influence from corporate interests. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) voted against Gorsuch and has argued his corporate connections pose an ethics problem.