Federal Judge H. Russel Holland delivered the latest in a string of defeats to Attorney General Kevin Clarkson’s anti-union crusade, rejecting claims of free speech infringement when state employees voluntarily have union dues withheld from their paychecks.

The state is paying President Trump’s lawyer $600 an hour to manage the crusade, a campaign that isn’t going well for William Consovoy, Clarkson or Gov. Mike Dunleavy. The governor could have stopped Clarkson at any point, but has cheered him every step of the way.

There are three cases in the courts, at least one of which Clarkson hopes to get to the U.S. Supreme Court to test his novel theories, which have been soundly rejected in a wide variety of courtrooms.

Clarkson may be hoping that the federal case could lead to the Supreme Court the quickest, but as the Alaska State Employees Association put it, he is arguing in the wrong court.

“As a preliminary matter, the court should not indulge the state’s attempt to challenge its own state law in federal court,” the union said, asking that the case be dismissed.

Clarkson wants to expand the anti-union elements of the so-called Janus case.

In the Janus case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that those who are not union members can’t be required to pay an “agency fee” as a substitute for union dues. Clarkson claims to know that the Supreme Court really wanted to make a broader ruling that applied to union members, allowing them to stop paying dues whenever they wanted, instead of once a year.

In the latest Clarkson loss, Holland ruled that state employees who voluntarily agree to join the union and have dues deducted from their paychecks are entering into a contract and not giving up anything in the way of First Amendment rights. There would seem to be no argument about this, but Clarkson is a zealot and Dunleavy is right there with him.

Click here to read the decision.

Last November, Anchorage Superior Court Judge Greg Miller rejected the request by the attorney general to be declared the winner in the second phase of the state case after losing the first phase to the Alaska State Employees Association.

Clarkson has hired a right-wing law firm, Consovoy McCarthy, at significant cost to the state to try to weaken the unions. Clarkson started off with a no-bid $50,000 deal last August, upped it to $100,000 and then added $600,000 early this year.

While Clarkson’s office claimed he wanted Trump’s lawyer so that he would have the best people in the country handling the case, I suspect that Clarkson is trying to elevate his status with right-wing lawyers Outside or perhaps he is looking for his next job.

This document, filed by Trump’s lawyer, treats Clarkson’s rejected claims on the Janus case as brilliant analysis.

The Legislature tried to block Dunleavy and Clarkson from wasting any more money hiring Outside lawyers during this fiscal crisis, but the governor wants to keep paying $600 an hour instead of relying on state attorneys to push the crusade.

As of June 16, the state has paid Consovoy McCarthy $258,137. The state could spend hundreds of thousands more under its most recent contract with Consovoy, which may not be enough to get to the Supreme Court.

With Consovoy’s firm now in line for a total of $700,000, the total may keep climbing as the contract says the amount can be “amended in writing at the discretion of the state.”

Consovoy, the guy who claimed that Trump is immune from prosecution for anything as long as he is president, is fighting elsewhere to keep Trump’s tax returns secret. Consovoy suffered a big defeat recently when the U.S. Supreme Court tossed out his claim that the president is above the law.

Your contributions help support independent analysis and political commentary by Alaska reporter and author Dermot Cole. Thank you for reading and for your support. Either click here to use PayPal or send checks to: Dermot Cole, Box 10673, Fairbanks, AK 99710-0673.

Comments? Write to me at dermotmcole@gmail.com