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Final nail in the coffin: Appeals court rejects AEA payroll deduction suit

AEA Death Star

The Alabama Education Association just lost their final shot at overturning a law forbidding politically-aimed deductions from state paychecks.

The news is another blow to the organization, who has struggled financially since Republicans assumed control of the state legislature. The group is currently focusing on rebuilding their financial structure, following a “financial crisis” in 2014. The teachers union had been raising millions for their political action committee, AVOTE, through the state’s payroll system.

The state legislature passed the law against public employee payroll deductions in 2010. They have been fighting the law in court ever since, claiming that the ban infringed on their First Amendment right to political expression.

This marks yet another state ethics-geared law that the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld this week. Earlier, the Court also solidified the constitutionality of a ban on PAC-to-PAC transfers.

Attorney General Luther Strange said that the decisions were “a significant victory for the people of Alabama in their ongoing fight against political corruption.”

“This law, in particular, will stop special interest groups from exploiting state resources to further their own, private political agendas,” Attorney General Strange said.

“These laws shared a common theme: to enhance ethics and integrity in our state government,” he added. “Challenges to a majority of those laws have been brought and pursued at length. But every one of these challenges to reach final resolution has failed.”

According to a report in AL.com, the Alabama Education Association says they will continue to utilize payroll deductions, though all funds collected will go toward membership dues only.

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