Wisconsin ruling facing challenge

MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin’s attorney general said Saturday he would seek court permission to keep enforcing a state law that effectively ended collective bargaining for public employees while his office appeals a judge’s ruling striking it down.

A Dane County judge issued a ruling Friday overturning almost all of the law that has been a hallmark of Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s tenure and helped turn him into a national conservative hero.

Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, also a Republican, said in a statement that he believes the law “is constitutional in all respects” and should remain in effect while he appeals the judge’s decision.

Walker’s office also has vowed to appeal, while the public worker unions that vigorously opposed law have hailed the decision as a victory.

As has been the case since Walker proposed the law shortly after taking office in 2011, the latest developments have been highly political.

The judge who overturned the law, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Juan Colas, was appointed to the bench by Walker’s predecessor, Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle. In a statement issued after the ruling, Walker criticized Colas as a “liberal activist judge.”

Meanwhile, the governor’s appeal is likely to end up before the conservative-dominated Wisconsin Supreme Court.

In a 27-page ruling, Colas said the law violates the state and federal constitutions.