For Once, the Law Applies to the Little Guy

The Illinois Supreme Court has ruled that the pension gutting law past last year is unconstitutional. I am further amused because it looks like Rahm Emanuel's equivalent law in Chicago is also covered by the ruling:

The Illinois Supreme Court on Friday unanimously ruled unconstitutional a landmark state pension law that aimed to scale back government worker benefits to erase a massive $105 billion retirement system debt, sending lawmakers and the new governor back to the negotiating table to try to solve the pressing financial issue.

The ruling also reverberated at City Hall, imperiling a similar law Mayor Rahm Emanuel pushed through to shore up two of the four city worker retirement funds and making it more difficult for him to find fixes for police, fire and teacher pension funds that are short billions of dollars.

At issue was a December 2013 state law signed by then-Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn that stopped automatic, compounded yearly cost-of-living increases for retirees, extended retirement ages for current state workers and limited the amount of salary used to calculate pension benefits.

Employee unions sued, arguing that the state constitution holds that pension benefits amount to a contractual agreement and once they're bestowed, they cannot be "diminished or impaired." A circuit court judge in Springfield agreed with that assessment in November. State government appealed that decision to the Illinois Supreme Court, arguing that economic necessity forced curbing retirement benefits.

On Friday the justices rejected that argument, saying the law clearly violated what's known as the pension protection clause in the 1970 Illinois Constitution.

"Our economy is and has always been subject to fluctuations, sometimes very extreme fluctuations," Republican Justice Lloyd Karmeier wrote on behalf of all seven justices. "The law was clear that the promised benefits would therefore have to be paid and that the responsibility for providing the state's share of the necessary funding fell squarely on the legislature's shoulders.

During the financial crisis, Wall Street made arguments that their obscene pay was contractually guaranteed, and as such, could not be regulated.

At the very same time, they were cutting wages and benefits of auto workers at GM and Chrysler.

I am amused.

Additionally, I am amused because this means that teabagger governor Bruce Rauner is going to be forced to raise taxes.

Heh.