Like many states, Wisconsin is in a big financial hole. The state faces $3.6 billion in debt over the next two years, in fact.
The newly elected Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has been consequently adamant about remodeling their pension and health care systems for public workers.
Under new legislation, workers would be required to contribute more to their pensions, and it would also limit collective bargaining rights for unions.
Rather than voting on it, however, the state’s 14 Democratic senators fled Wisconsin in mid-February, preventing the state senate from voting on any fiscal bill, which would require a quorum.
In response, Republicans separated the monetary content of the bill from the collective bargaining rights and pushed it through the legislative process without the Democrats.
It passed on March 9, and was signed by Gov. Walker two days later.
The issue now: Democrats are claiming the law violated the state’s open meeting laws.
According to Milwaukee’s Journal Sentinel, the law requires “24 hours' public notice of meetings, or two hours in emergencies.”
Thus, the passage of the bill has come down to a due procedural issue. The 14th Amendment of the Constitution says, “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
Essentially, it protects citizens’ rights — requiring the government to follow the exact legal channels established in order to abridge any of them.
Did the Wisconsin Republicans follow the proper legal procedures in passing the law?
Based on the Wisconsin open meeting law, probably not. And Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi agrees. She ruled last Friday to temporarily prevent the law from being published.
This does not, however, prevent the State Assembly from voting on the law again, a key provision needed for a law to take effect in Wisconsin.
Great — so what’s the issue? Republicans plan on taking the battle to the state Supreme Court instead.
“‘We highly doubt a Dane County judge has the authority to tell the Legislature how to carry out its constitutional duty,’ Senator Scott Fitzgerald and Representative Jeff Fitzgerald, who are brothers as well as Republican leaders, said in a statement,” The New York Times reported.
Well actually, she does. It is precisely the job of the judicial branch to make sure the Legislature acts according to the constitution. The Fitzgeralds overestimate their own authority in the matter.
Regardless, it may be the Wisconsin Democrats should take most of the blame.
Instead of following the rules and living up to the responsibilities of the elected offices, they skipped town when their state needed a legislative body the most.
I blame the Democrats for refusing to allow the possibility of due process in the first place –– and their opponents’ response was only practical, even clever.
They just got lucky that the Wisconsin Republicans can’t tell time.
Contact Danny at djoconn1@asu.edu
