If the legislation is passed, state workers will be required to contribute significantly more of their paycheck to their retirement fund and benefits package and will dramatically limit their collective bargaining rights.

FORBES: Wisconsin Democrat Senators Preparing To Return Home

Swartz's suicide has inspired a flurry of online tributes and mobilized Anonymous, the loosely defined collective of so-called "hacktivists" who oppose attempts to limit Internet freedoms.

CNN: Anonymous threatens Justice Department over hacktivist death

Those cases were ultimately settled in 1992 and 1993 when the league and the players association came up with a collective-bargaining agreement that provided players with a path to free agency but included a strict limit of how much each team could spend on player salaries.

WSJ: NFL, Players to Square Off in Court