As an escaped Illinois resident, I have followed the Janus case fairly closely. Public employee unions in Illinois wield a tremendous amount of power, by virtue of their ability to direct huge amounts of money to sympathetic politicians (specifically, Democrat politicians) and through their ability to mobilize large groups of voters who are essentially in lockstep with the union's opinions. So I welcome the Supreme Court's decision in Janus, although I think there should be some way to deal with the free rider problem identified by the dissent.
What I think Janus will do, however, is sharpen and clarify the unhealthy relationships between public employee unions and their political managers, whom they elect and sponsor through campaign contributions. Specifically, I think a fairly straightforward and obvious way around the Janus ruling is for state and local governments to pay unions directly for their representation services, and reduce their employees' compensation by an offsetting amount. I don't believe this would be illegal, and it would greatly facilitate the identification and influence of unions on local political operations.
Imagine, for example, the political capital that would have to be spent to support a bill that reduced state employee wages in order to make a direct payment to a union for collective bargaining. Also imagine the impact on the union, which would, theoretically at least, have to account for its spending of that money as a government contractor providing services to a local polity.
Better minds than mine have looked at this issue and thought it through, although I think I'm the first to raise the government contractor disclosure issue. In any event, Janus will not be a panacea for those opposed to public unions, but it might well give people more insight into the corrupting influence of their political contributions.
UPDATE: Nice analysis here, and here.
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