The Wisconsin Supreme Court heard oral arguments Monday to determine the constitutionality of Act 10, which restricts teachers’ unions’ collective bargaining rights.
Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen represented the state and Attorney Tamara Packard led the legal team Madison Teachers Incorporated. Madison Teachers Inc. asserted Act 10 is unconstitutional because it violates teachers freedom of association and equal protection under the First Amendment. Van Hollen argued the Wisconsin State Constitution does not guarantee a right to associate for the purpose of collective bargaining.
Despite Democratic Senators fleeing the State in 2011 to disrupt the legislative process, Act 10 passed in 2011 and placed limits on collective bargaining rights for most unionized workers in Wisconsin. Under the law, wages, sick leave and vacation time are no longer negotiable in labor contracts. The law also forces public employees to finance more of their healthcare benefits and to pay more into their pensions.
Gov. Scott Walker introduced the bill as part of a larger effort to cut the state’s deficit. The bill stirred public angst causing thousands of residents including teachers and their students to demonstrate in the state Capitol.
James Sieja, a political science graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the justices are likely to rule Act 10 constitutional. His prediction comes after the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that the process by which the bill was passed was constitutional, and therefore it is unlikely they will strike it down, according to Sieja.
Sieja called the law indeterminate, meaning there is no specific clause for the justices to reference in the Wisconsin Constitution when making the decision.
“When the law isn’t clear, when the law is indeterminate, that leaves the justices to vote ideologically,” Sieja said.
If ruled constitutional, Act 10 could move from the courts to the political arena, according to Sieja.
The upcoming gubernatorial election could be the next battleground for opponents of the law.
