Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion

A commenter using the pseudonym "Milwaukeean" has been active here for the past couple of weeks regarding the various court and other disputes in Wisconsin.

Milwaukeean didn't seem to cross the line from dissenter to troll, made some good points at times, and often argued against my position and the position of other readers.  That's fine. 

Unlike some blogs, we don't screen people out -- much less go back and delete their comment histories -- just because we disagree.  If all you do is name calling, you will not be put through, but dissent is patriotic here.

But these sort of commenters always seem to end badly, in a flurry of name-calling and self-righteous indignation. 

And so too, Milwaukeen bid us farewell last night:

Amazing that what is described as a blog about the law argues for ignoring a state constitution and an order of the court, dismisses it as a "county court" -- do commenters on a legal blog really not understand the term "district court"? -- and more here that shows inability or unwillingness to actually consult the constitution and statutes.

Well, okay, I finally get it. I read that this was a thoughtful blog about the law, but someone was having fun. This really is a mock legal blog, a joke!

Sorry for taking this blog seriously. Go on back to your silliness and mockery of the law, while I go on to seek a serious legal blog. Thanks for the helpful list ranking such blogs, so that I can find the far better ones!

I realize that this will come as a complete shock to Milwaukeean, but we will survive without you.

Now go find someplace where you can preach to the choir, and where the choir will not question your views or challenge what you have to say.  This is not such a place.

--------------------------------------------
Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube
Visit the Legal Insurrection Shop on CafePress!

Thanks to reader Jason who took this photo recently in Raleigh, NC:



Maybe there's something to the story of the tide turning in Raleigh.

--------------------------------------------
Related Posts:
Bumper Stickers - The Series

Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube
Visit the Legal Insurrection Shop on CafePress!

Media Matters, as part of its new "get Fox News" agenda, is spinning a tape of Bill Sammons of Fox News made in 2009 as reflecting dishonesty as to "mischievous speculation" in 2008 as to whether Obama had socialist tendencies.  Needless to say, the left-blogsphere has reacted with glee.

But listen to the actual audio, and two things are clear.

First, the word "mischievous" was related to Sammons' use of the word just moments before related to James Carville.  And it is not clear what was the "mischievous speculation" to which Sammons was referring.  Sammons statement that he thought it was "far-fetched" is not a confession of lying, which is the Media Matters Spin.  Sammons describes the language as "inartful" and that he was dealing with the issue because it was in the news.

Second, and this is the part Media Matters doesn't highlight, Sammons made a case for why he feels those concerns about Obama -- whether mischievous or not -- actually had come true.

“Now imagine my surprise when this year, I witness President Barack Obama standing in the cross hall of the White House and having taken over the American car industry, look into the camera, and announce to the nation essentially, that he would personally vouch for the warranty on your car’s muffler. All of a sudden, the debate over whether America was heading for socialism seemed anything but far-fetched…The debate over whether America is headed for socialism seems all too real, especially to those who still believe in capitalism."

Listen, and you decide.



--------------------------------------------
Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube
Visit the Legal Insurrection Shop on CafePress!

Based on reports from inside Judge Sumi's courtroom, it appears that she has issued an expanded TRO ruling that the budget bill is not in effect and was not "published" as required, and enjoins further implementation.

Correction: Per local news reporter, initial reports that Judge found law not in effect were not correct. But TRO continues to prohibit Secretary of State from publishing, so it appears she is viewing the bill as not in effect yet, even if she did not explicitly rule.

Updates:  Per JSOnline:

A Dane County judge Tuesday blocked the state from implementing Gov. Scott Walker's collective bargaining bill.

"Further implementation of the act is enjoined," said Dane County Judge Maryann Sumi.

She noted her original restraining order issued earlier this month was clear in saying that the state should not proceed with implementing the law. The Walker administration did so after the bill was published Friday by a state agency not included in Sumi's earlier temporary restraining order.

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

She noted she has not yet found that lawmakers violated the open meetings law, but noted the Legislature could resolve the matter by passing the bill again.

The Amended TRO now is available.  It is only two pages long, and apparently was prepared as to form by the Democrats (this is common in court cases that one side prepares the form of order), because Judge Sumi struck out the portion as to publication:




--------------------------------------------
Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube
Visit the Legal Insurrection Shop on CafePress!

--------------------------------------------
Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube
Visit the Legal Insurrection Shop on CafePress!

I don't understand why aspiring political cartoonist Mark Smith doesn't have a syndication yet.

This is another one of his brilliant cartoons:

--------------------------------------------
Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube
Visit the Legal Insurrection Shop on CafePress!

The man who introduced Sarkozy to the Benghazi rebels is none other than Bernard-Henri Lévy, a pop philosopher so French that I can't think of an American equivalent. We just don't have philosophers who wear their shirts unbuttoned, marry blond actresses, and take sides, enthusiastically, in wars in Bangladesh, Angola, Rwanda, Bosnia, and beyond. By siding with Lévy's emotional plea for humanitarian intervention—a decision that surprised even his own foreign minister—Sarkozy apparently thinks he might share some of the philosopher's glamour.

Sarkozy clearly hopes the Libyan adventure will make him popular, too. Nobody finds this surprising. At a conference in Brussels over the weekend, I watched a French participant boast of France's leading role in the Libyan air campaign. A minute later, he heartily agreed that the war was a ploy to help Sarkozy get re-elected. The two emotions—pride in French leadership and cynicism about Sarkozy's real motives—were not, it seems, mutually exclusive.

... had Sarkozy's primary aim been to expose the weakness and incoherence of European foreign policy, he could not have done so any more effectively... The Libyan affair "demonstrates the immaturity of European security and defense policy, the poverty of the political debate, and the inadequacy of personnel." No one thinks Europe is going to emerge from this affair any stronger, either, even if the French president does.

--------------------------------------------

Notice how Democrats have been talking lately about how Republicans in Congress are held hostage by Tea Party-backed new members?  And how for years Democrats have made sure to use the term "extremist" when referring to Tea Parties?

It's a pre-planned line of attack by the Democratic Causus, and one of the enforcers is Chuck Schumer (D-NY). 

As reported by The NY Times, not realizing the call line already was active, Schumer instructed other Democratic Senators, shortly before a live conference call, to use that mode of attack, and also admitted he makes sure to use the word "extremist" whenever possible as instructed by the Democratic Caucus (emphasis mine):

Moments before a conference call with reporters was scheduled to get underway on Tuesday morning, apparently unaware that many of the reporters were already on the line, Charles Schumer of New York, the No. 3 Democrat in the Senate, began to instruct fellow senators on how to talk to reporters about the contentious budget process.

After thanking his colleagues — Barbara Boxer of California, Ben Cardin of Maryland, Tom Carper of Delaware and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut — for doing the budget bidding for the Senate Democrats, who are facing off against the House Republicans over how spending for the rest of the fiscal year, Mr. Schumer told them to portray John Boehner of Ohio, the Speaker of the House, as painted into a box by the Tea Party, and to decry the spending cuts that he wants as extreme. “I always use the word extreme,” Mr. Schumer said, “That is what the caucus instructed me to use this week.”

A minute or two into the talking-points tutorial, though, someone apparently figured out that reporters were listening, and silence fell.

Then the conference call began in earnest, with the Democrats right on message.

And, Schumer stays on message on Twitter:


This is the same guy who called Scott Brown a "far right tea-bagger,.

--------------------------------------------
Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube
Visit the Legal Insurrection Shop on CafePress!

I have suggested long ago and again that Mitt Romney's best strategy on Romneycare simply would be to admit it was a mistake, even though honest and serious distinctions could be drawn between Obamacare and Romneycare.  He has not done that, and the political wound still festers.

Tim Pawlenty understands the power of apology.  At one time he supported cap-and-trade, but now readily admits that position was a mistake.  Via Politico:

"The question is in my case, I've said, 'Look, I've made a mistake.' I think cap-and-trade would be a ham-fisted, unhelpful, damaging thing to the economy," Pawlenty added. "It's misguided. I made the mistake. I admit it. I'm not trying to be cute about it. I just come out and tell you it was a mistake."

--------------------------------------------
Related Posts:
Sorry Seems To Be Mitt's Hardest Word
Mitt Romney, The Responsibility Candidate?

Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube
Visit the Legal Insurrection Shop on CafePress!

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has posted on his website an Op-Ed The NY Times declined to run. (h/t JSOnline):

"In nearly every state across America, Governors are facing major budget deficits. Many, Democrat and Republican alike, are cutting state aid to schools and other local governments - which will force massive layoffs, massive property tax increases or both.

In Wisconsin, we are doing something progressive in the best sense of the word. We are implementing reforms to protect middle class jobs and middle class taxpayers. While our idea may be a bold political move it is a very modest request of our employees.

We are reforming the bargaining system so our state and local governments can ask employees to contribute 5.8% for pension and 12.6% for health insurance premiums. These reforms will help them balance their budgets. In total, our reforms save local governments more than $700 million each year.

Most workers outside of government would love our proposal. Over the past several months, I have visited numerous factories and small businesses across Wisconsin. On these tours, workers tell me that they pay anywhere from 15% to 50% of their health insurance premium costs. The average middle class worker is paying more than 20% of his or her premium.

Even federal employees pay more than twice what we are asking state and local government workers to pay and most of them don’t have collective bargaining for wages or benefits. These facts beg the question as to why the protesters are in Wisconsin and not in Washington, D.C. By nearly any measure, our requests are quite reasonable.

Beyond helping to balance current and future budgets, our reforms will improve the quality of our governments. No longer will hiring and firing be done solely based on seniority and union contracts. Instead, schools - as well as state and local governments - will be able to make decisions based on merit and performance...."

More at the link.

--------------------------------------------
Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube
Visit the Legal Insurrection Shop on CafePress!

Court proceedings in Madison before Judge Maryann Sumi center on whether the budget repair bill has become law.  This is, as I posted before, a sideshow unnecessarily created by a TRO which interfered in the legislative process.

I'll be posting updates about the court proceedings in Wisconsin throughout the day, based on various news reports, in reverse chronological order (with commentary from time to time by me):

Further updates will take place in new post.

Per tweet, Sumi says bill not published.  Clearly wrong, as discussed in prior posts. [see new post for details.]

Per tweet, Sumi says dismayed since an "easy" solution - revote and renotice.

As I suspected, the day was not done.  Per tweet, Sumi enjoined further implementation of bill.

Not clear as day ended in court whether there would be modifications to the TRO to stop implementatino of the law.  Per in-court tweets, session has ended, but some directive to attorneys to work on the form of Order.

Local TV station reports there will be no decision today, and hearings resume Friday. 
Per tweet, looks like done with witnesses, at least for the day, and Sumi now going to hear arguments on alterning the TRO.  Not sure if this means she's expanding the scope.

Showing video in court of committee meeting.  So?

Per tweet, looks like case will continue today, after State requested recess because legislators immune, but then will continue Friday.  Does this mean two days off from hearings?  Not clear.

Bob Lang, Director of Legislative Fiscal Bureau testifying about process by which bill was rewritten to take out fiscal matters and pass committee -- per tweet no single place in Capitol in which committees held.

After lunch break, per tweets, discussion of who can represent Sec. of State.  Apparently new lawyer showed up and Judge expressed surprise that meeting client for first time.  Well what did she expect, it was only a couple of hours ago that she told the State to get him a lawyer.  Another example of how today's hearing has turned into a sideshow over whether the bill is law.

JSOnline -

"Stephen Miller, who runs the bureau, said he called Deputy Attorney General Kevin St. John on Friday before publishing the law, after Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) suggested doing so.

Miller said he had independently concluded he had a duty to publish the law, and [Deputy Attorney General Kevin] St. John agreed with that....

Miller said he concluded he was required to publish the law, but he did not believe that it would go into effect until the secretary of state acted. Fitzgerald and the Department of Justice disagree, saying the law is now in effect because the bureau published the law."

ACLU Wisconsin also live tweeting - while much will be made of the fact that LRB was asked to publish the bill, I don't think that makes any legal difference.  The issue is whether publication was effective, not why they did it.  Per tweet, head of LRB says that comfortable that publishing was correct:


Jessica Arp, a local TV reporter, is live tweeting the hearings.  She notes at approx. 11:20 a.m. (CT):
Wisconsin State Journal - Appeals court denies request of Attorney General to withdraw appeal on ground law has come into effect already.

For those keeping score at home, we haven't even touched the open meetings issue yet today. Only publication procedure from last week.

JSOnline - Testimony by a witness from the Legislative Reference Bureau (LRB) to the effect that the LRB was directed by Scott Fitzgerald, the Republican Senate leader, to publish the budget repair bill.

JSOnline - Judge Sumi ordered the State to get a separate attorney for the Secretary of State, since the Dept. of Justice position on the law (that it was in effect) differed from the position of the Sec. of State.

JSOnline - hearings today before Judge Sumi to continue on the issue of whether the budget repair bill has become law.

--------------------------------------------
Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube
Visit the Legal Insurrection Shop on CafePress!

I previously have highlighted the dire finances of the City of Providence, which issued termination notices to all teachers in the school district as a precautionary measure.

But please don't think teacher salaries and benefits are the only problem.  GoLocal Prov (h/t Hummel Report) has published a list of the Top 25 highest paid employees of the City of Providence, and the top ranks are dominated by police and firefighters. 

These numbers include overtime and "recall" pay, which in many cases doubles the base salary, and in some cases, retroactive pay increases.  The numbers also include for police so-called "detail" pay, which essentially is what police get paid for standing next to construction road work, and some of that is paid by the contractors to the City, which then paid the officers, but there was no way to ascertain how much was such pass-through dollars.  The figures do not include the cost of benefits. 

Nonetheless, these numbers demonstrate that City of Providence employees, particularly the police and firefighters, are very highly compensated.


--------------------------------------------
Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube
Visit the Legal Insurrection Shop on CafePress!

In TaxProf's rankings of law professor blogs for the 12 months ending December 31, 2010, based on page views and visits, as calculated by publically available Sitemeters.  (Footnote, we really should be no. 5, but Instapundit not longer has a public Sitemeter, so it no longer is in the rankings.)

I note this only for those of you who follow such things.  Personally, it means nothing to me, because ... um, because ... (someone help me here) ...



--------------------------------------------
Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube
Visit the Legal Insurrection Shop on CafePress!

....

"Did you say Iran, sorry I didn't hear you, what was that, we can't dictate the terms of change for others, except when we do, and did, but only with a coalition, My Fellow Americans, Bush bad in Iraq, me good in Libya, because I did not declare war in that country, Libya."

--------------------------------------------
Related Posts:
SOTU Speech In One Sentence
Obama's Post-Election Press Conference In One Sentence
Obama's Gulf Speech In One Sentence

Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube
Visit the Legal Insurrection Shop on CafePress!

If it keeps him on the straight and narrow, good for him.



(The bride to be gets to meet Gov. Linc Chaffee and Congressman David Cicilline.)

--------------------------------------------
Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube
Visit the Legal Insurrection Shop on CafePress!