A state appeals court decided against placing a temporary hold on a ruling invalidating parts of the collective bargaining law and said the state would have to wait for their final decision.
Wisconsin’s Fourth District Court of Appeals decided to hold off on whether or not it would overturn Dane County Circuit Judge Juan Colas’ September decision against the law.
Colas struck down parts of the law in September under the Wisconsin and U.S. constitutions. The state’s Department of Justice appealed the decision, asking for a temporary hold, or stay, on the decision, but the appeals court declined that request.
“It appears to us that the sort of confusion the appellant highlight is not a product of the circuit court’s decision, but rather a product of ground-breaking legislation that is now subject to constitutional challenges,” the three judges wrote in their unanimous decision.
The judges wrote the law would continue to be litigated until the state Supreme Court rules on the case.
Their final decision on the case is yet to come, and their ruling did not talk about the merits of whether the law will be upheld, only about whether there should be a temporary stay on it.
The Colas ruling only affects local and school district employees, not state employees, Madison Teachers Inc. Executive Director John Matthews said.
MTI, which sued against the law, is “100 percent pleased” about the appeals court declining to stay the decision, Matthews said.
A federal appeals court ruled in January in favor of the collective bargaining law. But Matthews said as that court looked only at the U.S. Constitution, the Colas ruling still stands in Wisconsin.
In an email to The Badger Herald, DOJ spokesperson Dana Brueck said the department disagreed with the court’s decision. She said the decision did, however, point to the likeliness the DOJ would ultimately succeed.
“We asked the Court of Appeals to stay the district court order and are disappointed that it did not do so,” Brueck said. “On the other hand, the Court of Appeals expressly recognized that our position has a high chance of success on appeal.”
Brueck said DOJ may seek a stay from the Supreme Court.
