Wisconsin Judge Clarifies Injunction Against Anti-Union Act

UPDATE (3.31.11):  Gov. Walker's administration has announced that, given the judge's most recent ruling, it will halt efforts to implement the new law.

Another chapter in the saga revolving around the alleged open meetings violation of Wisconsin's new statute restricting public-sector collective-bargaining:  As we noted last week, the publication of the law by an administrative bureau despite a temporary restraining order by a judge left open questions about the scope of the TRO and the effect of the publication.  The judge put some of those questions to rest yesterday.  As reported by the AP:

Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi chastised state officials Tuesday for ignoring her earlier order to halt the law’s publication.

“Apparently that language was either misunderstood or ignored, but what I said was the further implementation of (the law) was enjoined,” Sumi said during a hearing. “That is what I now want to make crystal clear.” . . .

Sumi [had earlier] issued a temporary restraining order blocking Secretary of State Doug La Follette from publishing the bill — typically the last step before a law takes effect. Republicans got around that by having the Legislative Reference Bureau, another state agency, publish the bill on Friday. They declared victory, saying the law went into effect on Saturday.

Sumi’s order on Tuesday told state officials to stand down from any further action to put the law into effect. This time, she warned that anyone who defied it would face sanctions. She did not say what those sanctions might be.

There are still more hearings pending on the open meetings lawsuit and the effect of the publication.  However, the article quotes several defiant statements from the backers of the measure, so there looks to be a decent chance that they might still push ahead despite the order or, at a minimum appeal. 

What I wonder the most in all of this is why the Republicans don't simply pass the measure again?  It seems like they are fighting an unnecessary battle, unless there's some hurdle I'm not aware of (which is entirely possible).  I suppose there's additional opportunities for the opposition to get PR, but that seems like a drop in the ocean at this point. 

-JH