Starring Justice Lloyd A. Karmeier, Chief Justice Rita B. Garman,
Justice Charles E. Freeman, Justice Robert R. Thomas, Justice Thomas L. Kilbride,
Justice Anne M. Burke, and Justice Mary Jane Theis
The movie, one of my favorites as a young boy, takes on new
symbolic meaning 55 years later. This time it’s about beating the odds against
money, power and influence of legislative liars and thieves.
from the recent
Illinois Supreme Court Ruling, May 8, 2015:
“…The General Assembly may not legislate on a subject withdrawn from its
authority by the constitution (see Hunt v. Rosenbaum Grain Corp., 355 Ill. 504, 509 (1934); City of Chicago v. County of Cook, 370
Ill. 301, 306 (1938)), and it cannot rely on police powers to overcome this
limitation. As we have already explained, there simply is no police power to
disregard the express provisions of the constitution. It could not be
otherwise, for if police powers could be invoked to nullify express
constitutional rights and protections whenever the legislature (or other
branches of government) felt that economic or other exigencies warranted, it is
not merely pension benefits of public employees that would be in jeopardy.
“No rights or property would be safe from the State. Today it is
nullification of the right to retirement benefits. Tomorrow it could be
renunciation of the duty to repay State obligations. Eventually, investment
capital could be seized. Under the State’s reasoning, the only limit on the
police power would be the scope of the emergency. The legislature could do
whatever it felt it needed to do under the circumstances. And more than that,
through its funding decisions, it could create the very emergency conditions
used to justify its suspension of the rights conferred and protected by the
constitution. If financial markets were rational, this prospect would not buoy
our economy, it would ruin it...
“The financial challenges facing state and local
governments in Illinois are well known and significant. In ruling as we have
today [May 8, 2015], we do not mean to minimize the gravity of the State’s
problems or the magnitude of the difficulty facing our elected representatives.
It is our obligation, however, just as it is theirs, to ensure that the law is
followed. That is true at all times. It is especially important in times of
crisis when, as this case demonstrates, even clear principles and long-standing
precedent are threatened. Crisis is not
an excuse to abandon the rule of law. It is a summons to defend it. How we respond is the measure of our
commitment to the principles of justice we are sworn to uphold…” (The
Illinois Supreme Court).
I had a dream that the pension suit was played out on Judge Judy. "Governor, are you on medication? The contract is between the 4 corners of this piece of paper called the Constitution. You worry about wasting tax payer's money and it cost the state at least $600,000 to bring this action. At least 1/2 the General Assembly are lawyers and all thought this action had merit. You are all fools. Case dismissed."
ReplyDeleteAgain, there would be no crisis if we had a progressive tax in which everyone paid their fair shares of taxes--no exceptions--no fear tactics from our state government that we would lose corporations if we taxed them fairly. Pure nonsense; pure lies.
ReplyDelete