The Associated Press says a judge has struck down the state law championed by Gov. Scott Walker that that effectively ended collective bargaining rights for most public workers.
Dane County Circuit Judge Juan Colas ruled today that the law violates both the state and U.S. Constitution and is null and void, the AP reports.
It was not clear if the ruling means the law, in effect for more than a year now, is immediately suspended.
The ruling comes after a lawsuit brought by the Madison teachers union and a union for Milwaukee city employees.
The proposal, sold as a cost-savings measure in tough fiscal times but in reality an excuse to bust public-worker unions, was introduced shortly after Walker took office in February last year.
It resulted in a firestorm of opposition and led to huge protests at the state Capitol that lasted for weeks. All 14 Democratic state senators fled the state to Illinois for three weeks in an ultimately failed attempt to stop the law's passage from the Republican-controlled Legislature.
Anger over the law's passage produced more than 930,000 signatures calling for a recall election, which was held on June 5. Walker won and became the first governor in U.S. history to survive a recall.
Walker responded in a series of tweets posted just moments after the verdict was announced:
"The people of Wisconsin clearly spoke on June 5th. Now, they are ready to move on. Sadly a liberal activist judge in Dane County ... wants to go backwards and take away the lawmaking responsibilities of the legislature and the governor. ... We are confident that the state will ultimately prevail in the appeals process."