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Unfazed by the rebellion that has shaken their state since February, Republican legislators in Wisconsin seem determined to push through every aspect of the right-wing agenda they can lay a pen to.

The state Assembly called an “extraordinary session” yesterday-which would allow legislators to limit debate and amendments-in order to pass an onerous budget. Unions and supporters brought 5,000 protesters inside and outside the Capitol.

Governor Scott Walker’s original “budget repair” bill, which kicked off the rebellion in February and which would virtually end collective bargaining rights for public employees, had been thrown out earlier by a county judge. She ruled the Senate had pushed it through without proper public notice.

So the Republican speaker of the Assembly gave the state Supreme Court a June 14 deadline: either overturn the lower court and make the bill law, or we’ll add the anti-collective-bargaining provisions into the budget bill.

The Supreme Court’s 4-3 Republican majority complied. “This ruling is just one more indication that Wisconsin Republicans do not believe in a functioning, sound democracy knclusive of checks and balances,” said Wisconsin AFL-CIO President Phil Neuenfeldt.