Judge Maryann Sumi of Dane County, Wisconsin has blocked the state's infamous bill eliminating most collective bargaining rights for public employees from taking effect, at least temporarily. The question is whether the Republican leaders violated the state's open meetings law when they sneakily passed an amended version of the bill in a matter of minutes last week.

Sumi said that "the public policy behind effective enforcement of the open meeting law is so strong that it does outweigh the interest, at least at this time, which may exist in favor of sustaining the validity of the (law)," according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. So the new law will be suspended until the courts make a decision.

But there's nothing stopping state Republicans from just passing the law again. They've already taken the hit from the public for passing it the first time, so why not just bring it up again under normal open meetings rules? Sumi confirmed that "if the Legislature wanted to come back to re-enact the bill, they would have the right to do that."

[Image of Judge Maryann Sumi via AP]