Illinois Supreme Court sends a simple pension message: Pay up

Crain's Chicago Business reports:

Pay up—no matter how long it takes and how much it costs.

That is the overwhelming, utterly clear message sent by the Illinois Supreme Court today in tossing out 2013 reforms to state pension funds as unconstitutional. The decision strongly suggests that other changes negotiated by Mayor Rahm Emanuel in Chicago and proposed by Gov. Bruce Rauner for the state are improper.

Effectively, the court ruled that generations of state lawmakers messed up, failing to take needed steps to pay for pension benefits that were enshrined in the Illinois Constitution as "an enforceable contractual relationship, the benefits of which shall not be diminished or impaired."

Government workers (judges) say government workers have to get paid first, in Illinois.