MSNBC host Rachel Maddow was fairly bustin’ her buttons Tuesday night when she introduced a segment tagged “Search Me,” which detailed Freedom Of Information Act requests that targeted labor studies professors at state universities in Michigan.

The FOIA rumpus came to light last week compliments of Talking Points Memo:

Conservative Think Tank Seeks Michigan Profs’ Emails About Wisconsin Union Battle … And Maddow

A free enterprise think tank in Michigan — backed by some of the biggest names in national conservative donor circles — has made a broad public records request to at least three in-state universities with departments that specialize in the study of labor relations, seeking all their emails regarding the union battle in Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, TPM has learned.

TPM followed that up with this report on Tuesday:

Mackinac Center Explains Why It FOIA’d Emails About Rachel Maddow

Last week when news of their Freedom Of Information Act requests aimed at labor studies professors from state-run universities in Michigan broke, the conservative-leaning Mackinac Center For Public Policy think tank declined to talk about them. But on Monday night, in a long post on the center’s own website, the Mackinac staffer behind the FOIA requests offered a long explanation of why the center wants to know what Michigan labor studies professors were hearing and saying about Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow.

The short version: Mackinac’s been at war with labor studies departments for years, and the fight in Wisconsin opened up a new front.

Tuesday night, Maddow was in her glory (video here), knowing full well she could dine on this like Daniel Schorr on Nixon’s enemies list.

That is, forever.

Eat well, Rachel.