legislating from the bench

26May/115

Judge Sumi Strikes down Governor Walker’s collective bargaining law

And really, who didn't expect that this was coming given Judge Sumi's willingness to entertain the Dane County DA's motions regarding how the rapid passage of this bill in the legislature during the "Fleebagging" sessions, the period where the Senate Democrat's left the state in order to avoid having to, you know, do the job they were elected to do and take a vote on the budget bill this provision was originally included in, violated Wisconsin's open meeting law.

In a 33-page decision issued Thursday, Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi said she would freeze the legislation because GOP lawmakers on a committee broke the state's open meetings law in passing it March 9.

"It's what we were looking for," said Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne, a Democrat.

Ozanne sued to block the law after Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca (D-Kenosha) filed a complaint saying that GOP legislative leaders had not given proper notice in convening a conference committee of lawmakers from both houses to approve Walker's budget-repair bill.

Now, the Judge telegraphed her intent to block the legislation a while back, when after staying it's implementation she publicly opined that Ozanne would probably succeed based on the merits of his motion. But with all due respect to Judge Sumi, not only did the notice of the impending vote satisfy the 24 hour requirement, but more importantly many hold that the open meeting law is a parlaimentary rule in the legislative assemblies alone, and as such means that she and the courts have no jurisdiction in the matter; and can only have their say regarding the legitimacy of the legislation following it's codification. So really, she's making new law from the bench, as well as establishing the dangerous precedent that the Wisconsin judiciary can set the rules for business in the legislature; de facto upsetting the inherent checks and balances of the system...

But, another day, another partisan judge attempting to legislate from the bench; effectively usurping the rights of the people's representatives and placing the right to make law into the hands of a few privileged individuals.

Because let's be very clear. This is a poltically motivated act, designed to "keep the furor alive!" through the recall elections scheduled for this summer. It's a cheap political ploy that, hopefully, will be overturned in the WI supreme court. The court has promised to take up this matter very quickly.

All I can say is thank God that the Prosser managed to avoid having the election stolen by Kloppenburg.

[UPDATE]: Cap'n Ed at HotAir weighs in, concurring with my assessment in part:

The legislature was in special session, which changes the requirements under the open-meeting law, so they claim that the violation was moot. This is disturbing in another sense, which is that the legislature sets its own rules as an independent branch of government. The judiciary should not intrude on their prerogative to set rules for their own operation, within the confines of the state and federal constitutions.

Sumi’s issuance of a temporary injunction on this basis gave a large hint to today’s decision, so no one should be stunned by her ruling. The case will quickly go to the Supreme Court, which will have to determine whether to allow district courts to dictate legislative rules.
[emphasis mine]

Indeed, let's hope the court rules quickly.

[UPDATE II]: As is often the case, our pal Jeff Goldstein at Protein Wisdom characterizes Judge Sumi's ruling in his own inimitable way:

I didn’t become a judge to protect the status quo. Being a liberal judge means protecting the people, and in this case, it means protecting the people — who accidentally installed a conservative into the statehouse — from themselves. Or, to put it another way, THE LAW BELONGS TO ME!

So suck it bitchez!