Wisconsin Republicans say anti-union law in effect

Source: reuters

Wisconsin Republicans said on Friday a measure stripping state public employees of most collective bargaining rights was now in effect after it was published by a legislative agency despite a judge's order against publication.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/26/us-wisconsin-bill-idUSTRE72O7CT20110326

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I hope the law shows them they are wrong.

people booing....

It sounds like this surprised the Democrats. The Koch Brothers probably have the best lawyers in the world trying to figure out how to cram this down America's throat.

bouncing off his head.

at a Fox news interview on the UW Campus and was met with shouts of SHAME as he entered the building.

Is it fascism yet?

think the way the average person does. They have defective consciences, and
should never hold positions of high responsibility, because of the harm and
damage they inevitably cause the people, whom they are supposed to serve.
They can think of no one else's benefit but their own. The higher their
position the more people they bring misery to -- including death. It doesn't
bother them in the least. Just imagine an Al Capone as a state governor.

Legislature. No doubt they pushed to have it published.

...........Scott Fitzgerald, head of the Republican-controlled state Senate, said the bureau's action made the bill "the law" and insisted the action did not violate the restraining order because that did not mention the bureau specifically.

"If the DA didn't want the Legislative Reference Bureau to publish, then the DA should have made sure that they were part of the restraining order."

Mike Huebsch, a member of Republican Governor Scott Walker's Cabinet, said the administration would now "carry out the law as required."

der Fuehrer gets!

Check out the quote at the end of this article: http://www.examiner.com/independent-in-madison/wisc-collective-bargaining-law-published-despite-court-order

One demonstrator puts it in a larger perspective than the mainstream media can...

if so, the recourse of the court would be to summon the offenders for a hearing; if they did not come forward voluntarily, a warrnat could be issued to compel them to to give reason why they should not be held in contempt of court. If necessary, the judge can order arrests and charges could be placed against the offenders. Being in the legislature is no protection, I don't see how the offenders could get out of this.

From what I understand, the State has a process for these things, and not just any "legislative agency", can post the law, it has to come from the Secretary of State.

Regardless, these clowns just can't reach the bottom of the keg to find that last nail they are driving into their political coffins.


ETA: Contempt of court is behavior that opposes or defies the authority, justice, and dignity of the court. Contempt charges may be brought against parties to proceedings; lawyers or other court officers or personnel; jurors; witnesses; or people who insert themselves in a case, such as protesters outside a courtroom. Courts have great leeway in making contempt charges, and thus confusion sometimes exists about the distinctions between types of contempt. Generally, however, contempt proceedings are categorized as civil or criminal, and direct or indirect.

<snip

The essence of contempt of court is that the misconduct impairs the fair and efficient administration of justice.

"Criminal contempt" involves contempt with the aim of obstruction of justice, such as threatening a judge or witness or disobeying an order to produce evidence.

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Contempt+of+Court

me of the mobsters. And the rate they are going, probably the Nazis.

At this point in time these people truly believe that money is GOD, and they are KINGS, and it's ok to treat people like snails. To bad they have a few who believe all their bullshit, but hey, that's life. What I think is happening, the middle east wants Democracy, we have it and pretty much abuse it.

This is not LAW. WI and the other states with socipath gopers as governors with goper control government are in for a rude awakening. The people will prevail.

They're not dumb. There's a fix somewhere here. This can't be as stupid as it plainly looks.

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which generally involves another suit and some kind of writ, likely a writ of mandamus.

Of course, some "Republicans" saying something is law now isn't grounds for another suit- necessarily. It all depends on whether the governor or other agencies begin treating the law that has been struck down as valid. As long as he doesn't, there's no grounds for enforcement.

What Ive read is that the court enjoined the publishing of the law. If the enactment was published then that -without knowing more- is in contempt of the court's order. I think you are confusing enforcement of civil money judgments with the injunctive relief granted in this instance.

Scott is going to get himself impeached before long. Maybe that is a part of his martyr game plan... Then he can go the the RNC hanging on a cross feeling sorry for himself.

just openly defy laws and orders for sport. It's truly ridiculous. I just don't understand it.

The position of the Legislative Reference Bureau, the legislative agency that "published" the act, is that its publication was to comply with only one statutory requirement, and that the act will not legally take effect until a separate requirement is met: publication by the secretary of state. That is currently prohibited by the temporary restraining order.
Here is a link to the memo from the LRB that explains the reasoning:
http://www.thewheelerreport.com/releases/March11/0325/0325barcaatty.pdf

and ya think WI gopers will comply with this, hell no. They want violence. These so called God fearing people want people to stay divided inorder to control them. Look at the tea brats.

Do you have the trial court's Judgment Entry you can post? One really needs to see the real thing rather than try and analyze the issues based on some reporter's coverage of the decision.

http://www.wicourts.gov/news/view.jsp?id=248

It's all interesting, but here's the operative part:

"I do, therefore, restrain and enjoin the further implementation of 2011 Wisconsin Act 10. The next step in implementation of that law would be the publication of that law by the Secretary of State. He is restrained and enjoined from such publication until further order of this court."

I know what you mean about reporters. Everybody is saying that the act takes effect today, but informed legal eagles say it doesn't. For example, see the first few posts on this very good blog for legal matters in Wisconsin: http://illusorytenant.blogspot.com/

.....Scott Grosz, a staff attorney for the nonpartisan Legislative Council, agreed with Miller and said the action meets certain obligations under the law, but nothing can happen until La Follette acts.

"And at this time the secretary's actions remain subject to the temporary restraining order," Grosz said in a memo to Democratic Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca.

Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, who said he went to the Reference Bureau with the idea, insisted the action means the law takes effect Saturday.

"It's my opinion it's published, it's on the legislative website, it's law," Fitzgerald said. "It was clear to me after our discussions this morning, if it in fact it is posted and it says published and there's a specific date on it, it would be very hard to argue this was not law."

John Jagler, a spokesman for Republican Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald, said he also assumed the action means the law takes effect Saturday.............

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/25/wisconsin-union-law-publi_n_840870.html

Neither Fitzgerald has ever gone to law school (nor has their boss, Walker). At least the Fitz brothers did finish undergraduate degrees.

SNIP

After the restraining order was issued on March 18, La Follette sent a letter that same day to the reference bureau rescinding earlier instructions to publish the bill on Friday. "I further instruct you to remove all reference to March 25, 2011, as the publication date and not to proceed with publication until I contact you with a new publication date," his letter said.

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/wi-republicans-publish-collective-bargaini

Exactly! They're stepping up to the trap door right about now. They are at once judge, jury, executioner, and condemned.

It is obvious that the GOP is stretching the "law" to it's legal limits or beyond. But that does not make the law illegal, nor does it make it right. This article from Madison has a cool quote from an unnamed protester: http://www.examiner.com/independent-in-madison/wisc-collective-bargaining-law-published-despite-court-order

It kind of puts it in a larger perspective...check it out.

T in Madison

The judge issued a restraining order, Scott. Even you can't ignore the courts.

Judges dont like it very much when someone thumbs their nose at the courts authority. Even affronts to the orders of the lower court piss off the higher courts. Now the proponents of the law will go into the Appellate Court or State Supreme Court with a big strike against them. Blow off a court order and expect a big smack-down to follow whether it come from the original court or a reviewing court. Of course, if there are Republican bags all up and down the line this factor may be overcome.

SNIP

Most of the debate has been over who's right on this issue of who can pull the trigger, as it were, to make a law go into effect. (See our report for the details of the dispute.) But as we note in our story, the actual transcript of the judge's ruling seems much broader than that.

A transcript of the judge's ruling reads: "I do, therefore, restrain and enjoin the further implementation of 2011 Wisconsin Act 10. The next step in implementation of that law would be the publication of that law by the secretary of state. He is restrained and enjoined from such publication until further order of this court."

I want to be clear that not only am I not an expert on Wisconsin state law but that each of these controversies seems to move the state further into uncharted legal and even constitutional territory. So every judgment must be tentative. But a plain reading of the judge's order suggests a very broad injunction. Not only did she bar the specific modality of implementation. She seemed to enjoin any steps to put the law into effect. "I do, therefore, restrain and enjoin the further implementation of 2011 Wisconsin Act 10." And if that's the case, all these technical questions on who can 'publish' the law seem moot.

SNIP

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2011/03/a_bit_more_detail.php#more?ref=fpblg

that by publishing this law to put it into effect is a gross violation of said injunction. This single issue was so important to the state of WI that it had to be published above a judges temporary order? I guess if this wasn't put into effect immediately...the entire state would have dissolved into chaos and cease being a state at all.

Gotta hand it to R's...when they are in hole, they not only refuse to stop digging, they go out and get a backhoe to ensure their political grave is deep enough.

even the Bureau director thinks the law is not in effect (Walker's office says it is.)

..........The move is just the latest in a series of parliamentary and legal maneuvers employed over the past six weeks to enact a bill that prompted Senate Democrats to flee the state to block a vote and brought on waves of Capitol protests that grew larger than 85,000 people as Wisconsin became the center of a national fight over union rights.

Ultimately, the law's fate likely will be up to the state Supreme Court to decide. A state appeals court earlier in the week asked the Supreme Court to take up one of several lawsuits challenging its approval.

The latest chaos began Friday after the Legislative Reference Bureau published the law at 3:15 p.m.

Bureau director Steve Miller said the action doesn't mean the law takes effect Saturday. He says that won't actually happen until Secretary of State Doug La Follette orders the law published in a newspaper, and a judge ordered last week that La Follette not do anything.

"It's not implementation at all," Miller said. "It's simply a matter of forwarding an official copy to the secretary of state."..........

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/25/wisconsin-union-law-publi_n_840870.html

Since Walker and his legislative cohorts have already demonstrated contempt for basic workers' rights, it must not be too much of a stretch for them to display equal contempt for the established system of judicial checks and balances that is intended to assure that legislative actions do not violate existing law. With every turn of the page in Wisconsin, Republicans seem to be digging a deeper hole for themselves.

Fritzgerald and his brother Jeff are turds!---Walker's Repug Poodles. Not surprised but good to know who did this.


.....Scott Grosz, a staff attorney for the nonpartisan Legislative Council, agreed with Miller and said the action meets certain obligations under the law, but nothing can happen until La Follette acts.

"And at this time the secretary's actions remain subject to the temporary restraining order," Grosz said in a memo to Democratic Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca.

Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, who said he went to the Reference Bureau with the idea, insisted the action means the law takes effect Saturday.

"It's my opinion it's published, it's on the legislative website, it's law," Fitzgerald said. "It was clear to me after our discussions this morning, if it in fact it is posted and it says published and there's a specific date on it, it would be very hard to argue this was not law."

John Jagler, a spokesman for Republican Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald, said he also assumed the action means the law takes effect Saturday.............

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/25/wisconsin-union-law-publi_n_840870.html

WHich is a horrible thought!