Labor unions do not have a well-understood basis, as do capitalist enterprises, strictly voluntary
associations, and democratic states. They are nonprofit associations, but also coercive economic
agents; working-class communities, but also powerful special interests; byword of rights, but
also incompatible with certain individual freedoms. These tensions result in an ambivalent legal
status. For instance, unions may collect fees from (and negotiate contracts for) certain
employees without obtaining their individual consent, yet no one can be required to belong to a
union. Unions are exempt from antitrust laws and may restrain competition, but only in
particular ways. We cannot assess these rules unless we have a convincing philosophical
justification of unions in hand. This justification must answer utilitarian arguments that unions
undermine social welfare by hampering the efficiency of markets; libertarian objections that
unions override individual rights of expression and contract; and democratic complaints that
unions (being economic “special interests”) are less legitimate than elected governments. This
article argues that unions are valuable parts of civil society and are morally legitimate as
economic and political actors. Indeed, it would be desirable to ease certain obstacles to union
growth by reforming labor law. The relationship to this course is The union Presidents are
able to accumulate a lot of power and authority they have the power granted
to the courts to determine whether legislation is consistent with Constitution
