Government workers across New York are paying union dues they have a constitutional right to stop paying.
The unions know it – and they convinced the state government to pass a law to keep it that way.
Now they are in federal court Monday to answer for it.
Public Sector Unions Went to Albany After the Janus Decision Cost Them 300,000 Members
The Freedom Foundation is a conservative nonprofit with one mission: finding government workers and telling them they have the right to quit their union.
They mail teachers. They contact public employees. They hand people the opt-out forms.
Over six years, 300,000 Americans have used those materials to cancel their memberships and stop paying union dues.
This year, the Foundation expects 70,000 more people to walk out.
At $1,100 per canceled membership, that is $70 million in 2026 alone that will not flow into union war chests – and will not fund the Democrat campaigns those war chests exist to finance.
Government unions in New York had a choice.
They could make a compelling case to their own members – show them the value, earn the dues, keep the membership.
They chose Albany instead.
New York Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul signed Section 216 of the New York civil service law on Sept. 9, effective immediately.
The law hands Democratic Attorney General Letitia James the power to investigate, issue subpoenas, and ask a court to block communications she decides are "deceptive" – before any court has ruled anything is actually wrong.
Its target is obvious: organizations like the Freedom Foundation that contact government workers about their right to opt out.
In 2018, the Supreme Court ruled in Janus v. AFSCME that forcing public-sector employees to fund union speech violates the First Amendment.
Government workers already have the constitutional right to leave.
New York passed a law to silence the people delivering that message.
How Government Unions Are Using Democrat Politicians to Stop Workers From Opting Out
Government unions don't just lean Democrat – they are a Democrat funding apparatus.
AFSCME, SEIU, the teachers unions funnel hundreds of millions into Democrat campaigns, Democrat PACs, and Democrat politicians who then protect the system that keeps dues flowing.
Section 216 is that arrangement made visible: union money funds Democrat politicians, Democrat politicians write laws protecting union revenue, union revenue funds more Democrat politicians.
An organization confident it delivered value to its members would not need this law.
It would make its case. Members would stay.
Instead, unions that know workers will leave the moment they find the exit ran to Albany to brick the door shut.
Section 216 lets James move if she believes the Foundation is "about to engage" in speech she disapproves of – not after publishing something false, not after anyone is harmed, but before they say a single word.
Freedom Foundation attorney Shella Alcabes said: "Before we've even spoken, our speech can be restricted."
The threat already worked.
The Foundation shut down all New York outreach the moment Hochul signed the bill.
If they had mailed every public employee in New York just once, sanctions could reach nearly $1.5 billion.
Since Near v. Minnesota in 1931, the Supreme Court has treated prior restraints as among the most serious threats to the First Amendment – and the Pentagon Papers case forty years later made it explicit: any such restraint carries a heavy presumption against its constitutionality.
New York handed that power to Letitia James – the same attorney general who spent years using her office to target Donald Trump.
New York copied this from Oregon, where the Foundation is already fighting a nearly identical law in the 9th Circuit. New York's version goes further, handing unions a private right of action to drag out-of-state groups into court.
Freedom Foundation CEO Aaron Withe named the real motive: "When public employees learn they don't have to pay union dues, a lot of them stop. So instead of making their case to their own members, union bosses ran to their friends in the legislature and got them to write a law that makes speech illegal."
If Hochul wins this round, a teacher in California and a firefighter in Illinois will never get the mailer telling them they can leave – and the dues will keep coming out of their paychecks every month while Democrat politicians spend the money.
Sources:
- Susan Crabtree, "Group to Sue New York Over Union-Backed 'Hit Job' Law," RealClearWire, October 4, 2026.
- "Hochul Accused of 'Hit Job' on Behalf of Teachers Unions in Act of 'Pure Censorship': Labor Group," Fox News Digital, 2026.
- "Freedom Foundation Reports 250,000 Union Opt Outs Post-Janus Decision," The Center Square, 2026.
- Ashley Varner, "Supreme Court Janus Ruling and Unions," Fox News, 2019.
