Right to Work Appeal Filed

Attorney General Brad Schimel filed a motion with Dane County Circuit Court Judge Foust seeking a stay of his final order enjoining portions of 2015 Wisconsin Act 1, the right-to-work law.

In a release, Attorney General Schimel said he  filed a notice of appeal in the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, District III.

“I’ve asked Judge Foust to stay his order to ensure that the right-to-work law remains in effect on appeal,” said Schimel. “Given that 25 others states have right-to-work laws and none of those have been declared unconstitutional, I am confident Wisconsin’s law will be upheld. Therefore, it’s imperative that Wisconsin’s right-to-work law remain in effect while on appeal.”

On Friday, April 8, Judge Foust issued a decision in which he declared that Wisconsin’s right-to-work law constituted an unlawful taking of the unions’ property without just compensation. A week later, Judge Foust issued a final order in which he enjoined certain parts of the law.

Below is a portion of Attorney General Schimel’s motion seeking a stay of Judge Foust’s decision:

“This Court’s decision permanently enjoining portions of Wisconsin’s right-to-work law will have significant, immediate impacts on the State and its citizens. This injunction will immediately undermine the policies that the People, through their elected representations, have determined are in the public interest, while generating substantial uncertainty… Due respect for the presumption of constitutionality and the public interest requires that the injunction should be stayed until the appellate courts can finally decide whether Wisconsin, alone among its sister States, is prohibited from enacting a right-to-work law.”