Judge Maryann Sumi of the Dane County Circuit Court in Madison issued a decision last Friday temporarily blocking an anti-union law stripping bargaining rights from public workers from going into effect in Wisconsin. Republican Governor Scott Walker signed the bill last week. However, Judge Sumi’s decision prohibits Wisconsin Secretary of State Doug La Follette from publishing the law, which is necessary for it to go into effect.
Judge Sumi announced her plans to conduct a full hearing on the lawsuit accusing Wisconsin’s Republican lawmakers of violating state law in order to get the bill passed. On March 9, Wisconsin Republican senators broke Senate rules and Wisconsin law and voted in conference committee to take away collective bargaining rights of public workers. In the absence of the 14 Democratic senators who fled the state in a strategy the make Governor Scott Walker (R) negotiate. The Republican senators voted in conference to strip the House bill of its spending measures to bypass the Senate 60 percent quorum. Then the Republican Senators voted 18-1, with only Republicans voting to pass the law.
Over the past three weeks, tens of thousands of protestors have been gathering daily in Madison, WI to protest the anti-union bill.
