The ACLU has just issued a press release announcing a court challenge to Michigan's recently enacted "Right to Work" law. In out interview with UAW president Bob King that's in this week's paper, he provided a heads up that a legal challenge was in the works, but didn't indicate that the ACLU would be involved. It could be that this is just the first attempt to challenge the law in court, and that others will follow. The basis for this action isn't the law itself, but in the way it was passed during a lame-duck session of the Legislature last November. A link to the complaint filed in filed in Ingham County Circuit Court can be found here.

The ACLU claims that, by locking the public  out of the Capitol while the proposed law was being discussed, the Republican-dominated Legislature approved the bill in violation Capitol in violation of the Open Meetings Act, the First Amendment, and the Michigan Constitution.

" The case, filed on behalf of a journalist, citizens, legislators, and unions, charges that government officials, in an unprecedented assault on democracy, deprived the public of their right to participate in the legislative process," the ACLU said in its announcement.