Five people were arrested in Madison, Wisconsin at the Capitol yesterday, amid a march of thousands led by former Sen. Russ Feingold.

The protests will look very different from what occurred over the past couple weeks. But protesters still have the moral high ground. Look no further for evidence of that than this appalling display last night, when Capitol Police forcefully tackled State Rep. Nick Milroy (D). The police said they thought he was one of the protesters. In fact, he was going to his office.

A dramatic few hours in the Capitol building in Madison. A Dane County court judge, John C. Albert, all Capitol access restrictions must be lifted by the Department of Administration. This allows open access to the Capitol for the public, including protesters, during business hours. Albert gave a deadline of March 8 at 8am (next Monday) for full implementation; if Gov. Walker and the DOA do not comply, they can be held in contempt of court. Albert also said in his ruling that there have been, based on his investigation, “no injuries or damage to personal or government property,” which is a direct shot at the bogus claim of millions of dollars in damages.

These are the same people who lie about being punched and show video with a palm tree in it to “prove” Wisconsin protesters are violent.

According to the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, a state judge has issued a temporary restraining order that would open the Capitol building in Madison. It has been effectively closed since 8 am yesterday, with protesters unable to get inside and even attendees of a pubic hearing having to be escorted into the building.

Governor Walker delivers his budget address from the State Assembly today, and this ruling ensures that there will be many protesters in the building when he does so.

What’s going on in Wisconsin right now by the state Republicans is pretty unconscionable, when you add it all up. They’re using some serious strong-arm tactics to break the protesters and the Senate Dems.

Just got an alert from the Capitol City Leadership Committee (which is what the protesters who held the building last night have taken to calling themselves). The Capitol Police were supposed to open the building to the public at 8am. Two hours later they are still not letting anyone into the building. It’s particularly cold out in Madison today, with big crowds outside trying to enter.

Many books about terrorism begin with a personal anecdote about where the author was on 9/11. Political Scientist Jocelyn Jones Evans was working on the Hill when the planes hit and changed the course of American national security policy.

“For the first and only time in my life,” she recalls, “I remember rolling down my windows to see and to hear the news for myself.”

One Nation Under Siege though, isn’t a book about policy. It’s a book about how 9/11 and its aftermath changed the culture of Congress, and how those changes have affected the work of government and the American people’s access to their own representatives. Drawing on dozens of interviews with Hill staff and legislators, Evans vividly depicts the impact of the threat of terrorism on congressional culture after 9/11 through a combination of narrative and political science.