A federal judge has
struck down parts of Wisconsin's Act 10, better known as Gov. Scott Walker's controversial "budget repair bill" that prompted last year's uprising and occupation of the state Capitol:
Sever major unions had challenged the fact that Act 10 required absolute majority union recertification and denied voluntary union dues deductions as to general employee unions.
The court found those provisions violated the union members' First Amendment rights, considering that the same rules did not apply to unions for public safety workers like police and firefighters.
The elimination of collective bargaining rights was, however, upheld.
The judgement (PDF) extensively notes the political context and the appearance that Walker targeted unions that had opposed him while exempting those that supported him.