Old White Republican Judges Uphold Walker's Union Busting
A three judge panel of the 7th circuit court of appeals upheld Walker's union busting Act 10 thanks to appointments by Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan. Old White Republicans 86 year old William J. Bauer (Recommended by Ford) and 77 year old Joel Flaum (Recommended by Reagan) upheald all of Walker's Act 10. They did not deny that the differing treatment of the unions that supported Walker was the result of politics. Rather, they said the following:
“As unfortunate as it may be, political favoritism is a frequent aspect of legislative action. These sorts of decisions are left for the next election.” Oh, and by the way, “You kids get off my sidewalk!”
The third judge on the panel was 56 year old David Hamilton, appointed by President Obama and clearly living in the 21st Century was the only Judge not on Social Security and Medicare. Although he concurred with to other two on several issues, he issued the following statement:
"I respectfully dissent, however, from the portion of
the court’s decision upholding Wisconsin’s selective
prohibition on payroll deductions for dues for some
public employee unions but not others. The district court
correctly held that the new law’s selective prohibition
on payroll deductions violates the First Amendment
rights of the plaintiff unions and their members."
There are still several other cases moving through the courts and it will be instructive to watch the make up of the courts and the subsequent decisions.
