Scott Walker's Anti-Union Law Struck Down in Wisconsin

By Kevin Cirilli, Politico

15 September 12

Wisconsin judge ruled Friday that a controversial state law limiting unions' rights is unconstitutional, a decision Gov. Scott Walker is “confident" will be overturned on appeal.

Dane County Circuit Judge Juan Colas struck down the law, which essentially eliminated collective bargaining rights for most public employees, as a violation of both the state and U.S. constitutions, according to The Associated Press.

Walker won a June recall election that was widely viewed as a referendum on the law, which he had proposed. After Friday's ruling, the governor called Colas “a liberal activist judge" who “wants to go backwards."

“The people of Wisconsin clearly spoke on June 5th. Now, they are ready to move on. Sadly a liberal activist judge in Dane County wants to go backwards and take away the law making responsibilities of the legislature and the governor," Walker said in a statement. “We are confident that the state will ultimately prevail in the appeals process."

The AP notes that it's “not clear if the ruling means the law is immediately suspended." But an attorney for Madison teachers and city of Milwaukee workers, who are plaintiffs in the case, said the ruling reverts unions' rights to 2011, before the law took effect.

“The decision essentially creates the [2011] status quo for municipal employees and school district employees because it declared that the essential provisions of Act 10 to be unconstitutional," Lester told the Journal Sentinel.

Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen's spokeswoman Dana Brueck told the paper he would likely appeal the ruling.

“We believe the law is constitutional," he said. “We are reviewing the decision but we're planning to appeal."

Wisconsin lawmakers on both sides reacted strongly.

“This decision will help to re-establish the balance between employees and their employers," Democratic Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca told the Journal Sentinel. “The decision gives us an opportunity to get back to the Wisconsin values of sitting down and working together to iron out differences, not taking away the constitutional rights of our citizens."

Rep. Robin Vos (R-Rochester), meanwhile, told the paper, “A judge living in the fantasy world of Dane County has decided they are going to substitute their singular opinion as opposed to the collective will of Wisconsin, through the Legislature and the recall process."

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the state's second-largest public-employee union, posted a celebratory Facebook message that garnered more than 1,000 likes and some 350 shares in hour. (A couple of other Facebook users, meanwhile, gloated on Walker's Facebook page, “In your face.")

Teachers in Wisconsin were scheduled to rally Friday night in Madison and Saturday in Milwaukee to support Chicago teachers on strike, and unions were planning to bus teachers to Chicago for a Saturday rally, according to The Associated Press. The Chicago teachers reached a “framework" for a deal on Friday afternoon.

After Wisconsin lawmakers passed Walker's proposed law last year, tens of thousands of people - many of them teachers - rallied outside the state's Capitol building in Madison, causing school closures. In February, the state's Democratic state senators left the state for Illinois, unsuccessfully attempting to stop the law's passage. In June, Walker won a recall election after more than 930,000 signatures called for him to be removed from office.

Republican leadership has rallied around Walker. GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney has him called Walker a “hero," while Wisconsin native Reince Priebus, chair of the Republican National Committee, dubbed him “the anti-Barack Obama." At the Republican National Convention in Tampa last month, Walker was spotted tearing up during a speech by GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin congressman.