July 20, 2006 9:11AM # Wal-Mart Wins By [Andrew J. Coulson](https://www.cato.org/people/andrew-coulson) --- SHARE Yesterday, a [federal district court](http://www.mdd.uscourts.gov/Opinions152/Opinions/Walmartopinion.pdf) threw out a Maryland law requiring Wal-Mart to dedicate at least 8 percent of its employee compensation in that state to health care for its Maryland workers. The law was backed [chiefly by the AFL-CIO](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/19/AR2006071901193.html), which has been attempting to get similar laws passed in 33 other states. Those efforts are now likely dead. This will, no doubt, come as a disappointment to the National Education Association (NEA), which has had an [anti-Wal-Mart campaign](http://www.nea.org/topics/walmart.html) since last summer. “Huh,” you say? “What does Wal-Mart have to do with public education?” Well, all those NEA officials have to occupy themselves *somehow* during slow nights [at the casino, or while riding around Hawaii in limousines](http://www.teachers-vs-union.org/unionboss.html). ##### Related Tags [Education](https://www.cato.org/education), [Health Care](https://www.cato.org/health-care), [Center for Educational Freedom](https://www.cato.org/center-educational-freedom) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).