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Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell’s obstruction of President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee has backfired as the Supreme Court deadlocked and gave unions a big win on a case involving the collection of fees.

According to the AP:

A tie vote from the Supreme Court on Tuesday handed a win to labor unions in a high-profile dispute over their ability to collect fees. The justices divided 4-4 in a case that considered whether public employees represented by a union can be required to pay ‘‘fair share’’ fees covering collective bargaining costs even if they are not members. The split vote leaves in place an appeals court ruling that upheld the practice.

Republicans had been planning on using this case to break the backs of public sector labor unions nationwide by cutting off organized labor’s ability to collect fees. Republicans were counting on winning a 5-4 decision that would have crippled organized labor’s ability to raise money.

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Mitch McConnell’s decision to obstruct President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee has resulted in a deadlocked highest court in the land, which has effectively ended the era of conservative judicial activism from the bench of the Supreme Court.

Conservatives are targeting public sector labor unions because they have a membership rate that is five times higher than private sector workers. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics 35.2% of public sector workers are members of unions compared to 6.7% of workers in the private sector.

Republicans would have reversed 40 years of legal precedent and dealt a blow to labor unions if Scalia had not passed away. Instead, the case of Friedrichs v. California Teachers Assn. will result in a victory for labor, and if Democrats win the presidential election, Republicans could regret Mitch McConnell’s decision to obstruct President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee for decades to come.