The Badger Awakens, Part 4

It looks like Gov. Scott Walker and his fellow Republicans in Wisconsin may be congratulating themselves a bit too early on having sidestepped the judicial question of the union-busting law and violating a court order by publishing it.

Since the bill is now being treated as having gone into effect, it's now a viable target for attempts to overturn the measure based on legal grounds.

That could actually simplify the case that District Attorney Ismael Ozanne is seeking to make on the alleged open meetings violation if he doesn't have to worry about whether a judge has the authority to stop legislation before it takes effect, said Madison lawyer Lester Pines.

"I suspect that if Judge Sumi was willing to take up a (temporary restraining order) against publication I suspect she'd do the same thing on enforcement" of the new law, Pines said.

Pines said it would also open up legal channels for other groups who have been waiting to challenge the law but had to wait until it was enacted.

"This is going to unleash a tsunami of litigation," Pines said.

By going back and having the law go through normal channels, Walker and his GOP buddies would have eliminated the legal challenges to the bill.  But as published state law, the union-busting measure can be challenged in court, and possibly struck down.

What Republicans don't want is another batch of protests and national media attention on this story.  They want this behind them as quickly as possible so they can move on to using the law to carry out their revenge against those who sided against them, starting with Wisconsin state employees.  They're charging forward and counting on the status quo protecting them.

They're won a battle, but the war just took a nasty turn for them.