2 Comments

  • In California, the same sort of lawsuit was used in Los Angeles to put the bus system under the control of the court. The court signed off on a sham consent agreement that benefited the Los Angeles bus system at the expense of taxpayers whose opposition to funding meant that normal democracy would not produce a bus system funded at the level that politicians wanted.

    Hypothetically, the Seventh Circuit views that type of shenanigan as unconstitutional, so it will be interesting to see what happens.

  • Given what consent orders have done all over the country to school systems, local governments, etc. it’s a shame that some court won’t decalre such things as unconstitutional under separation of powers–whether a gov’t. entity funds, how much it funds, or not should not be able to be over-ridden by a court order (just ask, for example, the people in the Kansas City school system).