Top Mich. Court Won't Rule Early On Right-To-Work

LANSING (AP) - The Michigan Supreme Court on Friday unanimously decided not to step in early to decide the legality of the state's right-to-work law.

The court said it wasn't persuaded that ruling now would be an "appropriate exercise" of its discretion - despite a request for a special advisory opinion from Republican Gov. Rick Snyder in January.

Three union-led lawsuits challenging the contentious law remain pending in state and federal courts.

Snyder wanted the justices to especially decide whether the law applies to roughly 35,000 state employees who belong to unions and are under the authority of the Michigan Civil Service Commission. Contracts expire later this year.
A separate union-backed suit on whether the law applies to state employees is pending in the Michigan Court of Appeals.

The right-to-work law passed the Republican-led Legislature in December and took effect in March. It made Michigan the 24th state to prohibit forcing workers to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment.

In making his request, Snyder hoped for a ruling before the court's term concludes at the end of July.

It's not the first time the Supreme Court has been asked to review a controversial law. In 2011, Snyder wanted the court to leapfrog lower courts and look at a law that placed emergency managers in distressed cities and school districts. The court didn't act before voters killed the law last fall.

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