How Dare They Enforce The Constitution!

I've already written about President Obama's rally in Milwaukee this weekend, as well as some unknown Romney event and the CRG/AFP snake oil sellathon in Walkersha County.

So it turns out that there was a fourth event over the weekend.

A small group of Walkerites went to Madison to have a protest of Dane County judges upholding both the state and federal Constitutions:

The organizing group consists of Caledonia resident Eddie Willing, a member of Founders Intent; Paris Procopis, an activist affiliated with Founders Intent; Wisconsin state treasurer Kurt Schuller; the Tea Party Patriots; an unnamed former judge; and an unnamed state legislator.

“We demand they respect the other two branches of government and allow our state to run by the consent of the people,” according to a statement released by the group. “Our state Constitution needs judges that apply the law the people write, not reinterpret it.”

The purpose of the rally is to remind “judges they are consistently ruling against the democratic majority in this great state,” according to the statement.

The group cited several examples of decisions, including DNR regulations, voter ID laws and the collective bargaining law — and call the judges' actions an abuse of power.

I bet these fools had signs saying things like "Corporations are people too!" and "Corporation rules over constitutional obstruction!"

The real irony comes in when one considers who these people are.

The gentle reader will recognize the name Paris Procopis from a overhyped rally in Wauwatosa to celebrate Weasel Appreciation Day during the height of the recall.

Also worth noting, when I did a follow up on the story, the happy little group of trolls commonly referred to as the Knotheads.

The Knotheads are also known as "Knot my Wisconsin" and "Operation Burn Notice" who get their jollies of stalking women on Facebook and in real life and harassing them because the women dared to exercise their right to Free Speech and did not agree with their fascist teachings of the Knotheads.

They are also the ones that thought it would be cute to go out and pose as signature collectors during the recall and then burn them.

So this group who tries to intimidate people who express themselves and who openly supports tyrants who take away civil rights from almost every group of people in the state, are now holding a protest, carping that their rights are being violated because a judge upheld the Constitution.

Now, I don't claim to be a constitutional expert, but I don't believe that there is a constitutional right to deny other people their rights. But I'm sure they'll be petitioning for that soon.

The Constitutional Challenge To Act 10 Should Stand

So far, since Friday's bomb-bursting bomb that Scott Walker's union busting measures were unconstitutional, the right's argument has been basically one of two things:

1. The Honorable Juan Colas is a "liberal activist judge."
2. Liberals legislate from the bench when they lose elections.

Both of these excuses, of course, or merely distractions from the fact that they just had their asses handed to them. Furthermore, it's false bravado to hide the fact that they don't have any recourse but to bloviate and hope that their corruption of the State Supreme Court is complete enough that they further shred the Constitution by acting as a rubber stamp for the Walker administration. This is why you haven't seen one right winger offer a serious argument on why Judge Colas' ruling is incorrect on the legal structures.

However, the same, fortunately, can not be said for the other side.

Professor Ed Fallone

Professor Edward Fallone, one of the most sagacious and erudite men I have had the pleasure of meeting, as well as an expert in constitutional law, has written on the subject, as I had hoped he would.

The first part of his essay on this case provides with several examples which support Judge Colas' ruling. For the lay person like me, the meat and potatoes come in the second half of his article:

There is no constitutional requirement that the state government bargain with public employee unions at all. However, once the state government decides to bargain, it may not do so under rules that penalize membership in particular unions. By arguing that Act 10 applies different treatment to public safety unions than it does to more general public employee unions, the plaintiffs have raised legitimate constitutional claims that often have been decided by the courts on very fact-specific grounds. In this regard, Judge Colas’ ruling is neither exceptional nor unprecedented.

Objections to some of the specific details contained within Act 10 could have been raised and addressed if the legislation had been introduced and considered via the normal legislative procedures. Fixing any constitutional defects during the drafting process could have been a simple matter. Instead, the bill was introduced and passed without public scrutiny or debate. This litigation once again demonstrates the truth to the adage that “haste makes waste.”

I am sympathetic to the argument that hard fought legislative accomplishments should not be undone by after the fact court challenges. Judges should presume the constitutionality of statutes, unless challengers overcome such a presumption. Such judicial deference accords finality to the actions of the legislative branch. However, complaints about litigation undoing the hard work of the legislature ring hollow when they come from an Attorney General that ostentatiously joined in the litigation seeking to overturn ObamaCare.

The conservative “noise machine”– consisting of ersatz news media, think tank “experts,” and political campaign consultants — will no doubt seek to mold public opinion in this case. They will ignore the merits of the legal claims at issue and try to convince the public that any adverse ruling is the result of one partisan judge acting without legal authority. Of course, the consequence of such a strategy is to intimidate judges who might otherwise give legal claims against the State a fair hearing, and also to steadily undermine the public’s confidence in the legal system.

Members of the State Bar should refuse to play along with this game. By all means, we should feel free to criticize the reasoning of Judge Colas’ opinion. His application of the precedent to the specific provisions of Act 10 is fair game for critical analysis. However, anyone who has been following the nationwide litigation concerning public employee bargaining rights must recognize that Judge Colas was correct to take the plaintiff’s constitutional arguments seriously.

Pretty good stuff, eh?

However, as I noted before, do not expect too much from the State Supreme Court. What with David Prosser, Mike Gableman and Annette Ziegler, there is little chance that the case will be actually judge on its legal merits, but rather solely on what their campaign donors want.

Bill Kramer: Little Big Man

Future Lord of
the Flies contender

State Representative Bill Kramer (R-Palookaville) shows just how "macho" he is by packing heat on the Assembly floor:

The Republican lawmaker who presides over the state Assembly says he’s been carrying a concealed weapon during floor sessions.

Bill Kramer of Waukesha is speaker pro tem of the Assembly. He controls debate and can order spectators out of the chamber.

He says he obtained a permit to carry a concealed weapon in November and has at times carried a Glock 26 on the Assembly floor.

He says he feels he needs the weapon given the toxic atmosphere at the state Capitol. Bands of protesters still angry over Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s contentious collective bargaining law have spent the past year harassing GOP legislators.

So what is this little big man afraid of? Having his actions known apparently:

Democratic representatives requested Kramer to rescind his order, saying it was unfair for the whole gallery to be cleared based on the behavior of only some people. Kramer took back the order, saying, “The gallery is for observation. We have public hearings for a reason and that is where you can be heard. We have prohibitions against holding signs and against filming so please put down your signs and cameras. We have prohibitions against showing support or disapproval so I hope you’ll abide by that.”

Then law enforcement began to haul people out for silently holding signs or taking pictures with their cameras. The Progressive’s own Matt Rothschild was arrested for taking a picture of these arrests being made.

A total of eighteen people were arrested and ticketed for offenses that will likely be thrown out in court.

People feel so strongly about protecting and defending their ability to record and document the goings-on in the Assembly because corporate media is doing such a poor job of it. If you’re not at the Capitol on a regular basis, you would find it difficult to believe the impunity with which the rightwing is shoving their racist, sexist, corporatist agenda down the throats of the people of this state.

And just think, he's supposed to be one of the "leaders" in the Republican Party. No wonder Fitzwalkerstan is starting to feel like a scene from "The Lord of the Flies."