Wisc Supreme Court upholds Scott Walker’s public-sector collective bargaining reforms

[JamesL]

Upholds voter ID law too

By M.D. Kittle | Wisconsin Reporter

MADISON, Wis. — After three years of legal battles, the war for Gov. Scott Walker’s cornerstone public-sector collective bargaining reforms is over, with the state Supreme Court on Thursday upholding Act 10 in its entirety.

Altogether, it was a big day for conservative causes. Wisconsin’s high court also ruled in favor of the state’s controversial voter ID law, but that matter is far from settled.

The Supreme Court, in a 5-2 decision, with liberal Judge Patrick Crooks begrudgingly agreeing Act 10 is constitutional, put an exclamation point of approval on the public employee labor law that sent thousands protesters to the state Capitol and 14 Democratic senators fleeing across the state line in a bid to stop it.

All but one liberal Dane County judge had concluded Act 10, which holds wage negotiations to the rate of inflation, ends automatic union dues deductions, and requires annual union recertification votes, meets constitutional muster.

The lawsuit was originally brought by Madison Teachers Inc. and Public Employees Local 61, AFL-CIO.

http://watchdog.org/162657/act-10-supreme-court-union/

 

[dbphoenix]

"Fleeing"?

 

[Ricter]

Only Case Of Voter Fraud Cited In Wisconsin Voter ID Ruling Involved A Scott Walker Fan
Posted: 07/31/2014 2:34 pm EDT
Ryan J. Reilly

The only example of voter fraud that the Wisconsin Supreme Court cited Thursday when it upheld a state voter ID law signed by Gov. Scott Walker (R) was allegedly committed by a Walker supporter. It was also a type of voter fraud that likely wouldn't be prevented by the ID law.

The state Supreme Court in a 5-2 ruling found that the controversial 2011 law does not place too much of a burden on voters.

The law remains blocked thanks to a ruling from a federal judge in April, but the state has appealed that ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit. The Obama administration filed an amicus brief in the appeals court case on Wednesday, urging the 7th Circuit to uphold the judge's decision striking down the measure.

In the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling, as noted by Rick Hasen, a professor and election law expert at the University of California, Irvine, School of Law, the justices cited a case from last month in which 50-year-old Robert Monroe was charged by the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office with 13 counts of voter fraud.

According to TPM, Monroe is a Walker supporter who claims he had a form of temporary amnesia that kept him from remembering his alleged activities. He is accused of voting five times during Walker's recall election, three times under his own name and two times via mail-in absentee ballots using the names of his son and his girlfriend's son.

Hasen wrote that it "does not appear that ANY of the alleged 13 counts of voter fraud that Mr. Monroe was charged with would have been stopped by a voter id requirement," since Monroe voted under his own name when he voted in person. The professor also noted that the alleged voter fraud was caught without the voter ID law being in place.