Wisconsin judge deals blow to bargaining law ... but now what?

Wisconsin's Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen plans to act quickly in seeking a stay in a court decision made by a judge Friday that overturned the law that repealed most collective bargaining for local government and school district employees. Gov. Scott Walker says the ruling ultimately won't amount to anything, but it left many in the state confused.

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Updated:: Mar 8, 2018
Original:: Sep 17, 2012

The decision by Dane County Circuit Judge Juan Colas in Wisconsin came late Friday afternoon and left many scratching their heads in Wisconsin. His ruling seemed to overturn a state law – long backed by Republican Gov. Scott Walker – that had repealed most collective bargaining for local government and school district employees.

The judge ruled the law unconstitutional because it violated worker rights to free speech, free association and equal protection.

Wisconsin's Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen says he'll act quickly to seek a stay of the court decision, the Associated Press reported.

School superintendents across Wisconsin were not sure what to do next in the wake of the ruling, Wisconsin Association of School District Administrators executive director Miles Turner said in another Associated Press story.

Walker, in the Twin Cities this past weekend, said the ruling won't amount to much eventually, KARE 11 reports (video below). The state Supreme Court will uphold the law as constitutional, Walker predicts, and he said that many people in the state have moved on.

MinnPost has a broader take, noting that Friday’s ruling was one in a series of state and federal rulings in the last year that turned back key tenets of a Republican agenda that propelled the GOP to big victories in November 2010.