A judicial rebuke

On Friday, Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin's administration decided to bypass the Secretary of State's office. The Secretary is the official, under the Wisconsin constitution, charged with "publishing" new laws before they go into effect. He had been prohibited by the court from publishing the GOP anti-union law until a challenge to the legality of its passage was resolved. The Legislative Reference Bureau was ordered to post a link to the law on its website. The head of the LRB complied, but made a point of saying this action was not sufficient to allow the law to take effect.

Well, today Judge Sumi returned from her vacation. She wasn't amused!

If it wasn't clear last time, Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi made it clear on Tuesday: Any further implementation of Gov. Scott Walker's law limiting public employee unions is barred, and anyone who violates her order risks sanctions.

Sumi made her ruling at the end of a day of testimony in the open meetings lawsuit brought by Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne. The hearing is scheduled to conclude on Friday.

"Now that I've made my earlier order as clear as it possibly can be, I must state that those who act in open and willful defiance of the court order place not only themselves at peril of sanctions, they also jeopardize the financial and the governmental stability of the state of Wisconsin," Sumi said.

Her statement appeared to be a warning to state agencies, such as the state Department of Administration, that have begun implementing the collective bargaining bill despite a temporary restraining order that Sumi issued on March 18 and the unsettled question about whether publication of the law by the Legislative Reference Bureau on Friday was enough to satisfy state law.

"Apparently that language was either misunderstood or ignored, but what I said was 'the further implementation of 2011 Wisconsin Act 10 is enjoined,'" Sumi said. "That's what I now want to make crystal clear."

The people of Wisconsin are devoting great energy to the eventual recall of Governor Walker. It appears he and his pals may soon make things easy by opening themselves up for impeachment proceedings. Even after today's warning from the bench, administration officials expressed their intention to continue acting as if the law was in effect.