Landmark state pension law struck down by Springfield judge

The Chicago Tribune reports:

A Springfield judge on Friday struck down a landmark state law aimed at fixing Illinois’ worst-in-the-nation $100 billion government worker pension system, putting a union-led legal challenge on track for a likely showdown in the Illinois Supreme Court.

Sangamon County Circuit Court Judge John Belz agreed with public employee unions and retirees who challenged the December 2013 law and issued a summary judgment ruling it violated the Illinois Constitution’s pension protection clause.

Belz wrote that the law was "unconstitutional and void in its entirety."

Under the state constitution, public employee pension benefits are a contractual obligation that cannot be “diminished or impaired.”

Illinois might have to privatize its' universities to freeze the long term benefits of government workers.