Farthest North vs. GSUSA: The Sequel

They say that usually sequels aren’t as good as the original, but I guess it depends on which side of the membership dues issue you fall and what the ruling is for Part II of the Farthest North vs. GSUSA lawsuit that will determine your opinion!

In case you’re not up to speed and have no idea what I’m talking about, about two years ago, the Farthest North council out of Fairbanks, Alaska, sued GSUSA due to its decision to raise membership dues from $15 to $25 for the 2017-2018 membership year.  I was confused at the time because I had always heard that the National Council had voted to give the National Board that authority.  My curiosity got the best of me, and plus, I needed a good excuse to not clean the house.  So over the next couple of months, I delved into this issue and found that the National Council had NEVER given this authority over to the National Board.  Additionally,  I read through the Blue Book of Basic Documents to see if I personally thought the National Board had authority in the first place as they claimed.  This was a long drawn out saga that’s still going on today with my recent post about a Membership Dues proposal that’s out there for the taking for the 2020 National Council Session.  Recently, the Chicago council released a proposal that’s sort of a compromise where the National Board can raise dues, but no more than 15% over the triennium without approval from the National Council. 

But back to the sequel.  In May of 2018, a judge ruled in favor of GSUSA. Farthest North appealed, and the case was kicked up to the Alaskan supreme court.  The case was heard last week, and here’s the video:

If the video doesn’t load, you can get to it directly from here:  http://www.360north.org/gavel/video/?clientID=2147483647&eventID=2019041086

If at some point in the future the above video doesn’t work, it’s been saved to YouTube for posterity’s sake.

It’s no episode of Judge Judy, and while I concede that I am biased due to my research, I thought the FN attorney did a very good job of presenting their side of the issue.  On the other hand, the GSUSA attorney… well… at times I got the same feeling when I’m watching one of those awkward scenes from The Office where you feel very uncomfortable for Michael Scott.  I don’t know legalese, so honestly, I don’t feel comfortable reading through their submitted arguments to guess which way the case will swing this time around. But I found it interesting that the judges brought up some of the same questions and observations that I did – especially the Jeff Bridges lookalike judge at 21:05.  I’m going to refrain from reading any further into the video because I don’t know if what happens during oral arguments is an indication of how judges rule.

Update:  The Alaskan Supreme Court ruled in favor of Farthest North.

On a related note, on the day I came across the video, a link I had shared on my Facebook wall for Surveys, Rogues, and Signs from April 15th, 2017 showed up in my Facebook memories section.  I read back through it because that’s where the whole membership dues rabbit hole started.  In it, I stated, “I don’t have the Blue Book memorized,” yet here I was two years later on that same day with the Blue Book practically memorized due to the membership dues series.  And ten minutes prior to seeing that, I had just bought a 1935 copy of the Blue Book off eBay.  Now that’s hard core governance right there for ya.  And really, really nerdy.

But again, back to the Farthest North lawsuit.  There’s no telling when the judges will rule on the case.  It may be months or even over a year.  In the meantime, what will happen between now and the 2020 National Council Session?  Stay tuned and find out!