FILE - U.S. Supreme Court
The United States Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C.
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Language in the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling saying mandatory union fees are unconstitutional could spur fresh legal challenges as unions and states grapple with its implications. 
In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court said that government workers who choose not to join unions can't be forced to pay fees to those unions. The case centered on Mark Janus, a child support specialist for the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, who argued that his First Amendment rights were violated because he was forced to pay agency fees to the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, a union that took political positions that ran counter to his own. The court sided with Janus.
Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the majority, said that public-sector unions must get explicit consent from workers before they could become members. He noted that under Illinois law, no such consent was required for the state to make deductions from an employee's check for agency fees certified by the union.
"This procedure violates the First Amendment and cannot continue," Alito wrote. "Neither an agency fee nor any other payment to the union may be deducted from a nonmember’s wages, nor may any other attempt be made to collect such a payment, unless the employee affirmatively consents to pay. By agreeing to pay, nonmembers are waiving their First Amendment rights, and such a waiver cannot be presumed."
He added: "Unless employees clearly and affirmatively consent before any money is taken from them, this standard cannot be met."
That means employees will have to actively opt-in for union services rather than opting out. Essentially, unions will need permission, likely in writing, to collect any fees, said Jacob Huebert, director of litigation for the Liberty Justice Center, a nonprofit group that represented Janus in the case.
Huebert said the affirmative consent language made the decision that much stronger.
"We didn't know if the court would go that far," he said. 
The language could lead to lawsuits, Huebert said
"I'm sure there will be more litigation," he said.
In Illinois, employees who were not in the union paid on average $737 a year to the union, nearly as much as union members, who paid an average of $911 a year. Illinois officials said Wednesday that the state would stop collecting agency fees.
“Effective immediately, the state will stop deducting ‘fair share’ fees from the paychecks of state employees who are not union members,” CMS Acting Director Tim McDevitt said in an email to employees. “An employee’s decision to join or withdraw from the union will not impact his or her job protections with the tate.”
Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation, said the Supreme Court decision will force unions to prove the value of the organization to prospective members. For years, that wasn't the case.
“So what [unions] are going to have to do is go out and convince Illinois employees and government employees across the country that their services are worth something,” he said.
Brett Rowland is news editor of INN. Email him at browland@ilnews.org.