Columbus, OH – On Friday, The Buckeye Institute filed its amicus brief in Boardman v. Inslee calling on the United States Supreme Court to overturn a union-backed Washington state law that prohibits access to contact information for public employees to anyone except for unions themselves, a clear violation of the First Amendment.

“Unions in Washington state tried to stop advocacy groups on the other side from contacting public employees to inform them of their constitutional rights not to subsidize union speech,” said Robert Alt, president and chief executive officer of The Buckeye Institute. “Washington’s actions are part of a larger pattern of states taking actions that make it more difficult for public employees to learn of and exercise their First Amendment rights. This law effectively allows only one group with a specific viewpoint—the unions—to speak, while simultaneously erecting unconstitutional roadblocks for those with other perspectives in a clear violation of the First Amendment.”

Boardman v. Inslee was filed by Freedom Foundation—challenging Washington’s Initiative 1501, a ballot initiative funded by public-sector labor unions that changed public record laws to restrict access to the contact information of public employees to any groups except for the unions themselves.

# # #

UPDATE: October 12, 2021, cert was denied by the Supreme Court of the United States.