Given events of the past two days, this tweet by @almostjingo sums things up rather nicely:

Lady Justice is having the best week ever #SCOTUS pic.twitter.com/AuHpqbY2r3 — Rosie Memos (@almostjingo) June 27, 2018

Following the Supreme Court’s upholding of President Trump’s Travel Ban – with Justice Thomas’ crucial Concurring Opinion detailing Nationwide Injunctions – we were gifted two major events today:

The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees that State and Public-Sector Unions may no longer extract agency fees from non-consenting employees. Justice Kennedy announced his retirement.

Both were expected. Both were wonderful.

Compulsory Union Dues by State & Public Sector Unions were ruled to be a violation of the First Amendment.

Note: Public Sector union membership is now greater than Private Sector union membership.

The magnitude of this decision is difficult to overstate.

This is a huge victory. https://t.co/KrmvaSYOQo — Jeff @ themarketswork (@themarketswork) June 27, 2018

From the Supreme Court Ruling (abbreviated):

The State’s extraction of agency fees from non-consenting public-sector employees violates the First Amendment.

Forcing free and independent individuals to endorse ideas they find objectionable raises serious First Amendment concerns. That includes compelling a person to subsidize the speech of other private speakers.

First, agency fees cannot be upheld on the ground that they promote an interest in “labor peace.” Exclusive representation of all the employees in a unit and the exaction of agency fees are not inextricably linked. To the contrary, in the Federal Government and the 28 States with laws prohibiting agency fees, millions of public employees are represented by unions that effectively serve as the exclusive representatives of all the employees.

Avoiding “the risk of ‘free riders,’ is not a compelling state interest. Free-rider “arguments are generally insufficient to overcome First Amendment objections.” As is evident in non-agency-fee jurisdictions, unions are quite willing to represent nonmembers in the absence of agency fees.

Neither founding-era evidence nor dictum in Connick v. Myers, supports the view that the First Amendment was originally understood to allow States to force public employees to subsidize a private third party. If anything, the opposite is true.

Union speech covers critically important and public matters such as the State’s budget crisis, taxes, and collective bargaining issues related to education, child welfare, healthcare, and minority rights. The government’s proffered interests must therefore justify the heavy burden of agency fees on nonmembers’ First Amendment interests. They do not.

For these reasons, States and public-sector unions may no longer extract agency fees from non-consenting employees. The First Amendment is violated when money is taken from non-consenting employees for a public-sector union; employees must choose to support the union before anything is taken from them.

Accordingly, neither an agency fee nor any other form of payment to a public-sector union may be deducted from an employee, nor may any other attempt be made to collect such a payment, unless the employee affirmatively consents to pay.

Public Sector Unions have long been a significant source of funding for the DNC – even if their members held opposing political views.

How significant? A thread by @The_War_Economy spells things out:

(2) The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is obviously a union. It represents about 1.9 million workers. They endorsed Hillary Clinton and have donated over $220,000,000.00 to the Democrats. They even spent nearly $70 million in 2012 for the Democrats. Go unions! pic.twitter.com/zs0Z9A3JXE — The_War_Economy (@The_War_Economy) June 27, 2018

Service Employees International Union = $220 million to Dems.

(10) Now, the National Education Association donated about $93,000,000.00 to Democratic causes. They even spent $23.7 million in 2016 alone.https://t.co/d4LOaqHUWG pic.twitter.com/kZt7UNYUuV — The_War_Economy (@The_War_Economy) June 27, 2018

National Education Association = $93 million to Dems.

(23) “Hillary Clinton Wins Endorsement From United Foods and Commercial Workers Union”. January 2016. I mean, they donated $63 million to Democrats. Also, they’re a Clinton Foundation donor. Winning made easy.https://t.co/BlVltNjAd0https://t.co/WbZlbaiWx2 pic.twitter.com/VCasHUHeaT — The_War_Economy (@The_War_Economy) June 27, 2018

United Foods and Commercial Workers Union = $63 million to Dems.

@_ImperatorRex_ decided to do some digging on the total amount:

$1.7 BILLION. A hard number, that will help you understand how huge the Janus case is. Unions donated $1.7 BILLION + to the DNC in the 2016 election, funded from dues forced on workers. See:https://t.co/wUahuxjLFr https://t.co/WAXrNRgUoM — REX (@_ImperatorRex_) June 27, 2018

$1.7 BILLION donated by Unions in the 2016 Election. And as the study notes – it’s almost certainly a low-end estimate. There’s a reason why the Left is so distraught by this ruling.

The impact on State & Public Sector Unions will be swift. And severe:

What happened in WI at the state level in 2012 will now begin happening all across the nation now that the Supreme Court has made this ruling. In no state anywhere can unions force people to pay them dues $. https://t.co/33gRC3tuwA pic.twitter.com/wUElzCH4AX — STEALTH JEFF (@drawandstrike) June 27, 2018

As noted by @drawandstrike:

Democrats and Progressives set up a system in which people who did not support Democrat and Progressive political policy were FORCED to pay for Democrat and Progressive political activity. And they were allowed to get away with this for far too long.

This tweet distills the Supreme Court Ruling to its essence:

Alternative headline: BREAKING: US Supreme Court hands down major blow to state efforts to compel speech. Protects millions of the nation’s public employees from being forced to subsidize political opinions they don’t like. https://t.co/xtT2tTdzhE — David French (@DavidAFrench) June 27, 2018

As for Justice Kenedy’s announcement, I have several reactions.

Measured:

With the news of Justice Kennedy’s retirement, conservative leadership in America, at least in part, has been solidified for an entire generation. Ginsberg likely next to go! #MAGA — CJ Pearson (@thecjpearson) June 27, 2018

And honestly elated:

Today has been SO MUCH FUN!! — Harold Finch (@hfinch61) June 27, 2018

Perhaps this sums it up best:

I’m seriously so happy I’m in tears. Thank you to every person, who voted for President Trump. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. You helped give us 2 Supreme Court seats.#JusticeKennedy #JusticeAnthonyKennedy — #ThePersistence (@ScottPresler) June 27, 2018

As to those making Merrick Garland arguments:

A perfect example why 79% of Independents see media as deliberately engaging in fake news. GOP followed Biden Rule: let a new President nominate a Supreme Court justice during a Presidential election when conflicting parties control Senate. No application to midterm elections. https://t.co/iJlzAHpNPi — Robert Barnes (@Barnes_Law) June 27, 2018

See also:

Supreme Court Justices nominated & confirmed in midterm years by Democratic Presidents with a Democratic Congress:

Kagan (2010)

Breyer (1994)

Goldberg (1962)

White (1962)

Vinson (1946)

Reed (1938)

McReynolds (1914)

White (1894)

Grier (1846)

Baldwin (1830) — Robert Barnes (@Barnes_Law) June 27, 2018

Note everyone seemed as jubilant as myself:

Literally in tears. Haven’t felt this hopeless in a long time. With Justice Kennedy leaving, we now have two options as Americans: get fitted for your Nazi uniform or report directly to your death camp. How do you fight the darkness without light? My spark is going out. #SCOTUS — Matthew Kovach (@mattiek17) June 27, 2018

But comfort and support was provided to those in need:

I don’t want to upset you anymore but there is no wifi at the death camps. — Stephen (@NewJerzeyBoy) June 27, 2018

And let’s not forget last night’s Primary elections:

SPOT ON – tonight reveals a ‘Democratic Party’ in freefall. 80% + of registered Dems are not showing up to vote and the extreme wackos have taken over. And it will only get worse for them. Celebrate, but remember – EVERYONE MUST VOTE 👇 https://t.co/eD8kZzsXXt — REX (@_ImperatorRex_) June 27, 2018

I’ll close with this:

Someone just sent this. Solid 9/10 pic.twitter.com/1WvWM0qOKi — Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) June 27, 2018

It’s been a great 24 hours. It’s good to be back.

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