Wisconsin Judge Maryann Sumi temporarily blocks GOP Gov. Scott Walker's anti-union law

Pro-labor groups in Wisconsin won a minor victory Friday when a judge temporarily blocked a controversial anti-union bill pushed through the state legislature last week.

Dane County Judge Maryann Sumi granted the temporary restraining order while she considers a complaint filed against GOP lawmakers who used procedural loopholes to pass a bill that guts the collective-bargaining rights of govement workers.

The complaint was filed by Dane County District Attoey Ismael Ozanne, a Democrat, who says the GOP violated the state's open-meetings law, which requires 24-hour notice before a vote.

The Republican-controlled state Senate reportedly gave only two hours' notice when it passed the bill March 9 while Democratic counterparts were on the lam in Illinois in an attempt to block a vote on the bill.

Demonstrators make their voices heard as legislators deliberate a controversial budget bill at the Wisconsin State Capitol Building on March 10. (Hart/AP)

The judge's order is being considered a major blow to Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who argued the bill was necessary to plug a $137 million deficit.

Democrats and unions, who protested by the thousands, see the bill as an attack on workers' rights and an attempt to weaken unions' political clout.

Battles over union benefits and bargaining rights are gripping many Rust Belt states, with Republicans in Indiana and Michigan also pushing to roll back longheld rights of govement worker unions.

Gov. Scott Walker said he was confident the bill would be come law. (Olson/Getty)

In Wisconsin, the GOP pushed the law through by stripping the anti-union measure from a larger budget bill, effectively erasing the need for Democrats to be present for the vote.

A spokesman for Scott Fitzgerald, the Republican Senate majority leader, declined to comment, citing the legal battle.

Assistant Attoey General Steven Means said the state plans to appeal the ruling, and Walker's spokesman Cullen Werwie said in a statement that the goveor is confident the bill will become law.

"This legislation is still working through the legal process," Werwie said.

With News Wire Services