Wisconsin Appeals Court Refuses to Put Act 10 Ruling on Hold

A Wisconsin appeals court Tuesday refused to put a hold on a judge's decision repealing major parts of Act 10, the law that ended collective bargaining for most public workers.

Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen in September had asked the 4th District Court of Appeals to stay the ruling by Dane County Circuit Judge Juan Colas that portions of the law were unconsitutional.

Van Hollen wanted to stay the decision while the case was being appealed. Colas refused in October to do so, and the state appeals court on Tuesday upheld that decision, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.

The appeals court said it saw "no basis to set aside the circuit court's decision that a stay was not warranted," the State Journal reported.

Today’s ruling likely sets the stage for Van Hollen to take the case to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, according to Patch's media partners BizTimes.com. The conservative wing of the high court has a 5-4 majority, which underscores the importance of the April 2 Supreme Court race between incumbent Pat Roggensack and challenger Ed Fallone, the BizTimes said.

Tuesday's decisions comes about three months after a federal appeals court upheld the constitutionality of that the controversial state law, which was part of Gov. Scott Walker's budget-repair bill introduced in 2011.

In that January ruling, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals said the state had a rational reason for rolling back collective bargaining rights, and rejected arguments from public employees unions that they violated First Amendment rights.

A Walker spokesman to the State Journal Tuesday he was confident the law ultimately would be upheld. Van Hollen's spokeswoman told the newspaper that a decision whether to ask the Supreme Court to issue a stay was under consideration.