Judge Blocks Wisconsin Union Law—Again

Judge Maryann Sumi had already blocked Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s controversial union bargaining law, but Republicans found a way around the court order—so yesterday, she blocked it again. “Apparently that language was either misunderstood or ignored, but what I said was the further implementation of [the law] was enjoined,” Sumi said at a hearing. “That is what I now want to make crystal clear.” This time, she warned, anyone who acts to put the law into effect will face sanctions.

Sumi’s first court order came after the county's District Attorney Ismael Ozanne, a Democrat, filed a lawsuit contending that Republican lawmakers violated the state’s open meetings law. Sumi blocked the secretary of state from publishing the bill, but the Republicans had the Legislative Reference Bureau publish it instead, on Friday. They say it went into effect Saturday, and the State Department of Justice agrees. Sumi will hear more arguments Friday, and the AP notes that the law’s ultimate fate will likely be decided by the state Supreme Court. (More Wisconsin stories.)