A State Appeals Court has issued a stay in Wisconsin’s right-to-work lawsuit, which puts the law back into effect while the case is appealed.
The right-to-work law signed by Gov. Scott Walker last year banned mandatory union dues at private sector businesses. Dane County Circuit Court Judge William Foust overturned the law earlier this year, saying it amounted to an unconstitutional taking of unions’ property by employees who don’t pay dues.
The state Department of Justice asked Foust to stay his ruling, but Foust refused. The District 3 Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that Foust was wrong to assume that unions would suffer substantial harm if a stay was imposed and imposed the stay itself.
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The DOJ, which is defending the right-to-work law, said the stay would give people certainty as this case makes its way through the courts.
“We feel confident the law will ultimately be found constitutional, as it has been in more than half the states across the country,” said DOJ spokesman Johnny Koremenos.
The appeals court’s stay is not a final decision, and in theory, the court could still side with Foust. Whatever the court decides is likely to be appealed to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
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