The state Supreme Court may choose to decide on the collective bargaining law sooner, after the appeals court urged them Thursday to take up the case without their ruling.
The three judges on the Fourth District Court of Appeals cited the “pressing need for a final resolution” on the case in their unanimous decision to ask the Supreme Court to skip the appeals court and decide on the case sooner.
“It is hard to imagine a dispute with greater statewide effect or with a greater need for a final resolution by the Supreme Court,” the judges said in an order. “Although the parties do not address the topic, news accounts suggest that several municipal employers are engaged in legal disputes relating to this topic, and many more are left in limbo wondering whether they are better off engaging in some type of tentative bargaining or refusing to engage with employee representatives.”
However, despite this push, the Supreme Court can deny to take up the case right now and keep it in the appeals court, according to a Wisconsin Department of Justice statement.
In September, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Juan Col?s ruled key parts of the collective bargaining law unconstitutional.
Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen appealed the circuit court decision and has asked the Supreme Court multiple times to skip the appeals court and rule on the case directly. The court has denied his requests.
In a statement, Van Hollen called the appeals court’s request a “positive development” for defenders of the law, which is also known as Act 10.
“Any remaining issues concerning Act 10 need to be resolved as soon as possible and this action by the Court of Appeals gives the Wisconsin Supreme Court an opportunity to resolve them in a final, binding decision,” Van Hollen said. “I continue to believe that Act 10 is constitutional in all respects and anticipate that our Supreme Court will come to the same conclusion.”
A representative for Madison Teachers Inc., who is arguing the law is unconstitutional, was unavailable for comment.
