Illinois governor's SCOTUS brief was an 'unauthorized filing,' state AG's office tells court
A lawyer in Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office is clashing with the governor over his authority to file an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court.
Illinois Solicitor General Carolyn Shapiro wrote the court late last month to inform it of “an unauthorized filing, purportedly on behalf of Bruce Rauner, governor of Illinois,” according a New York Times Sidebar column. The letter (PDF) asserted that the governor and his lawyers have no authority as a matter of state law to represent the state in court.
Madigan is a Democrat and Rauner is a Republican.
Rauner’s brief supports California school teachers who contend that a law forcing public employees to pay union fees for collective bargaining violates their First Amendment rights. The case is Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association.
Rauner’s brief asserts that in Illinois, public unions “have negotiated wages and benefits that have unrealistically kept going up while the state economy has kept going down.” Illinois is “a poster child” for why past precedent should be overruled “and all public-sector employees’ First Amendment rights restored,” the brief said.
The governor’s general counsel, Jason Barclay, told the Times in an email that the governor “was speaking on behalf of his office only.”
