From the midweek edition of the Morning Jolt:

Walker, Walking Tall Yet Again
The endless fight in America’ Dairyland reaches another chapter – dare we hope it’s the final one? “Acting with unusual speed, the state Supreme Court on Tuesday reinstated Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to all but end collective bargaining for tens of thousands of public workers. The court found a committee of lawmakers was not subject to the state’s open meetings law, and so did not violate that law when they hastily approved the measure and made it possible for the Senate to take it up. In doing so, the Supreme Court overruled a Dane County judge who had struck down the legislation, ending one challenge to the law even as new challenges are likely to emerge. The majority opinion was by Justices Michael Gableman, David Prosser, Patience Roggensack and Annette Ziegler. The other three justices – Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson and Justices Ann Walsh Bradley and N. Patrick Crooks – concurred in part and dissented in part. The opinion voided all orders in the case from the lower court. It came just before 5 p.m., sparing Republicans who control the Legislature from taking up the contentious issue of collective bargaining again.”
John Hinderacker at Powerline concludes, “This much was, I believe, a foregone conclusion. But the Supreme Court went further, holding on the merits that the legislature did not violate Wisconsin’s open meetings law when it enacted the collective bargaining law. This puts the Democrats’ substantive arguments to rest… It was, in short, a good day not just for fiscal sanity in Wisconsin, but for the rule of law.”
Ann Althouse: “So Judge Sumi, asserting that the legislature had violated the law, herself violated the state constitution. Seeking to check the excesses of the legislature, she fell into judicial excess.”
William Jacobson at Legal Insurrection cheers, “This is a sweeping victory for Republicans and Gov. Scott Walker. (And for my prior legal anaylsis, but that’s another matter. I’ll be spiking the football, for sure.) This also is a vindication for the legal strategy of not backing down to the unjust, unwise, uncalled-for, unlawful rulings of Judge Sumi, who engaged in clearly unsound legal reasoning which — whether intended or not — took on the appearance of political posturing.”
Don Surber notices, “The Associated Press story began: “The Wisconsin Supreme Court handed Republican Gov. Scott Walker a major victory on Tuesday, ruling that a polarizing union law that strips most public employees of their collective bargaining rights could take effect.” Why, yes, AP is unionized. Why do you ask? Its union is the News Media Guild/Communications Workers of America. It is just a coincidence that the CWA is opposed to this polarizing union law.”