Outsider Contributions to Union Candidates: United Steelworkers v. Sadlowski
![handle is hein.journals/ilr68 and id is 843 raw text is: Comments
Outsider Contributions
to Union Candidates:
United Steelworkers v. Sadlowski
In United Steelworkers v. Sadlowskil the United States Supreme Court
faced the question whether a union rule that prohibits nonmember
contributions to union election campaigns violates uniofi members' free
speech rights. The Steelworkers' outsider rule is the first of its kind2
and was challenged by Edward Sadlowski, the 1977 presidential candidate
of a Steelworker insurgency movement. Sadlowski claimed that the rule
violates rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights of Members of Labor
Organizations3 of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act
(LMRDA).4 In Sadlowski the Supreme Court held 5-4 that the outsider
rule does not violate the LMRDA's guarantee of freedom of speech and
assembly for union members.5
This Comment will analyze the LMRDA free speech guarantee, sec-
tion 101(a)(2), in the context of the facts of Sadlowski. First, this Com-
ment will explain why section 101(a)(2) should be analyzed by analogy
to the first amendment.6 Next, the appropriate construction of the statute
will be considered, with particular emphasis on the relationship between
the substantive provision, which guarantees free speech, and the proviso,
which allows unions to make reasonable rules governing union members'
responsibilities.7 This Comment then will discuss whether campaign con-
tributions are protected speech under the section 101(a)(2) guarantee,8
and propose a test by which to judge the reasonableness of union rules
under the proviso.9 Finally, the Sadlowski case will be analyzed, using the
proposed test as a standard for the outsider rule.'0
In 1977 Edward Sadlowski, Jr., was director of the largest district
1. 102 S. Ct. 2339 (1982).
2. See Note, Restrictions on Outsider Participation in Union Politics, 55 CHI.-KENT L.
REV. 769, 769 (1979).
3. 29 U.S.C. §§ 411-415 (1976).
4. Pub. L. No. 86-257, 73 Stat. 519 (1959) (current version at 29 U.S.C. §§ 401-531
(1976)) [hereinafter cited as LMRDA]. The LMRDA is popularly known as the Landrum-
Griffin Act.
5. 102 S. Ct. at 2346.
6. See text accompanying notes 45-54 infra.
7. See text accompanying notes 55-94 infra.
8. See text accompanying notes 95-117 infra.
9. See text accompanying notes 118-47 infra.
10. See text accompanying notes 148-64 infra.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/ilr68&div=39&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Outsider Contributions to Union Candidates: United Steelworkers v. Sadlowski
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