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The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation has written several amicus briefs in partnership with other think tanks around the country.
In December 2019, the Foundation joined an amicus brief written by the Liberty Justice Center for the U.S. Supreme Court to consider in the case of Fleck v. Wetch. The court declined to hear the case, which is about whether laws requiring attorneys to join the state bar are subject to the same regulations that came down in the historic Janus v. AFSCME case. The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation partnered with Liberty Justice Center again in January for the Jarchow v. State Bar of Wisconsin case. This case would have looked at “integrated bar” arrangements, but unfortunately, the Supreme Court chose to not hear the case.
In April, the Mackinac Center signed onto two briefs for other cases that might be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The first of these, written by the Goldwater Institute, involves Janus v. AFSCME. If the court hears the case, it would offer some guidance for several lawsuits across the country in which former union members are seeking to reclaim dues that they were forced to pay.
The second case, from Tennessee, argues that the state’s billboard law violates First Amendment speech protections of the U.S. Constitution. The Supreme Court is considering whether to hear it.
These amicus briefs are important, even if the high court does not hear the cases. Not only do they help the Mackinac Center get its research and ideas to a national legal audience, but they also help form and maintain relationships that Mackinac has with other organizations across the country.
