RAW VIDEO: High Drama at the High Court, as Advocates Rally Outside Teachers Union Case

By The 74 & Bellwether Education Partners

January 11, 2016

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For those who closely monitor the Supreme Court, the attention Monday was focused on what was happening inside the imposing white marble building. There, attorneys and justices debated whether requiring teachers and other public employees to pay union fees, to support in essence positions they don’t support, violated their First Amendment rights. (Read our dispatch from inside the Court, as Justice Scalia seemed to distance himself from the teachers unions)

While those inside argued about hypothetical characters, future situations and 50-year-old precedents, dueling groups of protesters outside held competing rallies in the biting cold. Our video crew captures the scene:

Those aligned with the unions, more numerous than their opposition, held handmade signs, for example, tying support for unions to support for the middle class. They also said unions have aided the expansion of rights for women and people of color.

Advocates aligned with plaintiff Rebecca Friedrichs and her like-minded teachers, meanwhile, had pre-printed signs on sticks that said “I Stand with Rebecca” and said the issue boiled down to a fundamental violation of First Amendment rights.

There were dueling chants shortly after oral arguments let out, which died down as the attorneys for both sides held press conferences on the courthouse steps. Here’s everything you need to know about the legal particulars of the case, boiled down into 9 simple facts: