Judge, May I Walk My Dog?

A federal judge has blocked the new federal rules requiring unions to report on the use of members’ dues, says the AP. Judge Gladys Kessler says the Labor Department “has simply failed to offer any reasonable justification for requiring such far-reaching changes to take place in a period of seven weeks.”

I can’t think of any reason why it is up to a judge to decide when a regulation takes place or any other of thousands of things judges these days seem to think are their business to decide. Of course, I may be confused by the fact that I once was told the Constitution granted different powers to different branches of government. This is no longer true. The judiciary runs whatever it wants, authority be damned, and expects you to say “your honor” while it does so.

Reminds me of the scene in the Animal House movie in which frat pledges are struck and, after each blow, are supposed to say, “Thank you, sir, may I have another?”

The regulations in question were to have gone into effect January 1, 2004, but unions weren’t required to issue any reports under it until March of 2005! Gladys says that’s unreasonable…

What, if anything, is outside the authority of a federal judge?



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