Union membership may be down across the country according to recent statistics, but you wouldn't know that in New York state, where labor unions still have some political power. As Capital Tonight's Nick Reisman reports, leaders rallied in Albany as the Supreme Court hears a case that could have implications on unions' ability to raise money through dues.

ALBANY, N.Y. -- The political clout of public labor unions in New York and around the country is being challenged in the U.S. Supreme Court — a challenge labor leaders say is coming from their political opponents.

“This is about a ring-wing conservative ideological attack on working men and women, the middle class and in fact organized labor, the public sector in particular,” said Mario Cilento, the president of the state AFL-CIO.

Public labor members rallied Monday in Albany as the Supreme Court heard the opening arguments of Janus v. AFSCME, a case that challenges automatic union dues paid by public-sector workers.

The case could have a wide-ranging impact for public unions in New York, with hundreds of millions of dollars in dues at stake.

Among those raising the alarm was Kim Wallace-Russo, a CSEA member who says her job’s benefits allowed her to care for her sick husband.

“I never feared for my job and couldn’t imagine having to fear for my job and make that choice, because there is no choice there,” said Kim Wallace-Russo, a CSEA member who works for the state Department of Taxation and Finance.

But fiscal watchdogs say the arguments labor is bringing to case to require union dues do not hold up.

“The unions have been trying to argue that people universally benefit from representation,” said Ken Girardin, an analyst with the Empire Center. “But that’s simply not true. Look at how many people change unions during the course of their career because one union is doing a better job than others.”

Public labor unions have drawn heavy influence in New York, both in the form of campaign donations and in public policy debates. If the high court rules against unions, state lawmakers say they are ready to take action.

“New York state is a union state,” said Assemblyman John McDonald, a Democrat who represents the Capital Region. “This state’s success has been built with the hard work of many others and we need to do what we can to make sure we can maintain that structure for the state.”

New York also remains one of the highest unionized states in the country as membership elsewhere declines. Critics contend this makes the state less business friendly. Labor members the benefits won by unions at the negotiating table offer them peace of mind.

“I couldn’t imagine not having the protections that I had and those protections were from my union,” Wallace-Russo said.

A ruling in the case is expected by June.