Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America v. Brown, No. 06-939 (June 19, 2008).
Organizations whose members do business with California sued to enjoin the enforcement of a California statute that prohibited employers which receive state grants or more than $10,000 in state program funds per year from using the funds to "assist, promote, or deter union organizing." The United States Supreme Court ruled that states may not restrict an employer's right to communicate with its employees about unionization, holding that such a state statute is preempted by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) because it regulates employer speech about union organizing. The Supreme Court stated that the statute was enacted to stifle employer speech about unions by imposing convoluted record keeping requirements. The Court concluded that this ruling essentially prevents states from circumventing the NLRA.
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