John Nichols: Scott Walker reduced to name-calling to defend struck-down Act 10

[hue]

http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/john_nichols/john-nichols-scott-walker-reduced-to-name-calling-to-defend/article_f444b3f6-fead-11e1-afb4-001a4bcf887a.html

Wisconsin once had governors who could argue their briefs on merit. But no more.

Late Friday, a well-regarded Wisconsin jurist -- who before his appointment to the bench spent 15 years working for Democratic and Republican attorneys general as a top lawyer with the state Department of Justice -- issued a thoughtful 27-page assessment of Scott Walker's signature legislative initiative, Act 10.

The decision, grounded in a nuanced reading of state and federal law, and specifically focused on constitutional concerns, displayed immense respect for Walker's positions and those of the public-employee unions with which the governor has sparred over the past 18 months. The outcome of a lawsuit brought by Madison Teachers Inc. — the union representing educators in Madison schools — and Laborers Local 61 — a union representing Milwaukee public employees — the decision concluded that substantial portions of Walker's anti-labor Act 10 "single out and encumber the rights of those employees who choose union membership and representation solely because of that association and therefore infringe upon the rights of free speech and association guaranteed by both the Wisconsin and United States Constitutions."
That entirely appropriate legal analysis led to the judge's determination that the governor's law did, indeed, "violate the Wisconsin and United States Constitution and (are thus) null and void."

The decision renews collective bargaining rights for teachers and municipal employees, and lays the legal groundwork for the restoration of rights for the state employees who have been so battered by Walker's policies.

[charmay]

1. Name calling is what happens when there is no better argument.

Walker is only a Koch/ALEC puppet. He can't argue anything until they tell him what to say. I'm sure that he"ll come out with some slogan-type stupidity on Monday.