Many would say the title overstates the case; I hope they are correct. Anecdotally, it seems almost all the good news I have heard over the last eleven years has involved the rare judge who rules in favor of the constitution. The judiciary has been under as much assault from authoritarians as the other branches of government, with mildly less success so far. I saw Pat Robertson ask his television flock to pray with him for the death of a Supreme Court Justice. Judges have even been murdered. This in addition, of course, to the usual control of institutions through ideologically friendly staffing. Anyway, sorry not to be more celebratory. This is, in fact, good news, just as was the recent striking down of indefinite detention. There are a few judges out there. Continuing the recent fashion of disrespecting the independence of the judiciary, Gov. Scott Walker called Dane County Circuit Judge Juan Colas a "liberal activist". In a country that crows so much about democracy, it's amazing that "activist" has been made into a dirty word.

Judge Strikes Down Wisconsin Collective Bargaining Law

The law, Walker's crowning achievement that made him a national conservative star, took away nearly all collective bargaining rights from most workers and has been in effect for more than a year.

Dane County Circuit Judge Juan Colas ruled that the law violates both the state and U.S. Constitution and is null and void. He said the law violated the constitutional rights of free speech and association.