So hey guys, remember the Wisconsin public-worker union thing? About how it basically makes any facet of a public sector union illegal except saying you're in a union? Remember that it was declared illegally passed court as being in violation of state law on how the legislature can conduct its business, and that
it had gone into the state's supreme court?
After one day of deliberation,
a 4-3 decision says the law will take effect, and that the circuit court had overstepped its authority by... well, enforcing state law.
In vacating Sumi's ruling, the Supreme Court said she had "usurped the legislative power which the Wisconsin Constitution grants exclusively to the legislature." The court also rejected arguments that Republicans violated Wisconsin's open meetings law.
"The doors of the Senate and Assembly were kept open to the press and members of the public," the Supreme Court said. "Access was not denied."
In a fiery dissent, Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson wrote that the majority decision was "hastily" reached and has unsupported conclusions. She said a concurring opinion written by Justice David Prosser, a former Republican speaker of the Assembly, was "long on rhetoric and long on story-telling that appears to have a partisan slant."
Abrahamson said the majority "set forth their own version of facts without evidence. They should not engage in this disinformation."
The issue is far from over of course, since now that the court hearing is settled, civil suits can be raised against the law by way of suing the state.
I for one feel this is a hideously dangerous decision and process, totally apart from the issue of the legislation itself. Legislative bodies fleeing the government, different arms of the executive branch lying to each other about who has authority to publish a law, multiple concurrent attempts to repass the same legislation by ever "emergency" provision the law allows, proposed constitutional amendments to strip power from specific offices to streamline a legislative push, Supreme Court justices at each other's throats over whether a lower court has the power to enforce injunctions against the legislature, and numerous heated recall elections packed with
admittedly fake candidates trying to derail the opposing party's nomination process... These are the kinds of things that happen in foreign countries right before the U.N. starts debating over whether to send in peacekeepers. Obviously nobody's being shot at, but this is not how a democratic government is supposed to work.
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Topic: Chill and Relaxed Progressive Irritation and Annoyance Thread (Read 858229 times)