ILLINOIS PENSION THEFT: 100 LINKS TO MORAL AND LEGAL ANALYSES, COMMENTARIES, AND ARGUMENTS FOR PROTECTING PUBLIC PENSIONS

2011 (10 articles): 

Wisconsin Might Be an Omen for the Public Employees of Illinois (March 2011)

An Appeal to Reason: Who’s to Blame (for Today's Budget Deficits across the Nation) (March 2011)

Should We Blame the Teachers' and Other Public Employees' Pensions for the State's Budget Disaster? (April 2011)

Sustainability of the Teachers' Pension (June 2011)

What We Believe We Know about the SUSTAINABILITY of the TRS PENSION (June 2011)

What Will Be Illinois' Next Move Regarding Its Public Pensions' Liabilities? (July 2011)

Pt. 2 of “Waiting for Super [Legislators]” to Address the Budget Problems of Illinois and the Officious Civic Committee (revisited and summarized) (September 2011)

Ask Your Legislators These Questions Regarding the So-Called Pension Reform Bill (November 2011) 

Pension Hybrid Plans, Constitutional Challenges, and the Ethical Path to Take (November 2011)

Biopsy of a Free-Lance Writer’s Attack on Teachers (December 2011)

2012 (26 articles):

Illinois "Pension Reform" Mania (January 2012)

"Something Wicked This Way Comes" is back like Banquo's ghosts... Civic Federation skews "research" to promote destruction of pension plans for public workers (January 2012)

"Something Wicked This Way Comes" or "What, Me Worry" about What Ingram Said? (January 2012)

Illinois or Shall We Call It Plutocraticstan? (January 2012)

Why Any Illinois "Pension Reform" Is a Devious Ruse (February 2012)

Guarantees & Sustainability of the Teachers’ Retirement System, Defined-Benefit Pension Plan v. Defined-Contribution "Savings" Plan (March 2012)

A Response to TRS Executive Director Dick Ingram’s Address to Delegates at the IEA Representative Assembly (March 2012)

A View of the Illinois Public Pension Dilemma, Pt. I (April 2012)

A View of the Illinois Public Pension Dilemma, Pt. II (April 2012)

A Foreshadowing of Illinois Pension Reform: An Analysis (April 2012)

The Old Reality versus the New Illinois Pension Reality (April 2012)

Assumptions, Concerns and Questions Regarding the Illinois Teachers Retirement System’s Possible Insolvency and Conflicts (April 2012)

Funding the Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System: Should We Separate Our Moral Responsibility from Our Legal Obligation? (May 2012)

Illinois Pension Reform (May 2012)

Our Constitutional Rights (My Last Discussion with Eric Zorn of the Chicago Tribune) (May 2012)

Illinois Pension Reform Is Without Legal and Moral Justification (May 2012)

15 Questions about Pension Reform for the Illinois General Assembly (June 2012) 

A Discussion We Do Not Want to Have (July 2012)

Any Assault on Public Employees’ Rights and Benefits Is an Attack on the Entire Middle Class (August 2012)

Beware When the Illinois General Assembly Stalls (August 2012)

Dear Diane Ravitch: Teachers need your help to fight another injustice (October 2012)

What Might the Illinois General Assembly Be up to in This Veto Session...? (November 2012) 

The theft of the public employees’ pensions (November 2012)

Article XIII, Section 5 (the “Pension Protection Clause”) of the 1970 Illinois Constitution (November 2012)

A Letter Sent to Phil Ponce at WTTW Regarding Gina Raimondo's Pension Reform as a Model for Illinois (December 2012) 

Defending and Protecting Public Employees’ Pensions against the Legislative Siege (Eric M. Madiar/Douglas L. Greenfield and Susan G. Lahne) (December 2012)

2013 (24 articles):

COLA: A Guarantee for Illinois Judges (What about Public Employees?) (January 2013) 

A Response to the Proponents of Pension Reform at Today's Committee Hearing [Re: The State's Police Powers] (January 2013)

Nekritz’s pension bill is modeling Rhode Island’s pension reform and will ultimately fail because of it. Senator Cullerton knows it is unconstitutional (January 2013)

Modification of Contract Principles (and what many petitioners want their unions to do) (January 2013)

NEKRITZ-BISS (CROSS) BILL IS the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago’s earlier proposal, and it is UNCONSTITUTIONAL (February 2013)

Illinois Pension Clause’s Convention Debates, Text and Historical Background (Eric M.Madiar) (February 2013)

A Trifecta of Political Opportunists (Eric M. Madiar) (February 2013)

What happens if the Illinois public pension funds are “on the verge of bankruptcy?” (Eric M. Madiar) (February 2013)

Regarding The "Notable" Presiding Officer of the 118-Member Legislative Chamber, Mr. Madigan (February 2013) 

Regarding Joe Sosnowski's proposal to abolish Article XIII, Section 5 (The Pension Clause) of the Illinois Constitution (February 2013)

Constitutional Issues Concerning Senate Bill 1, Pt. B (February 2013)

Challenging Public Employees’ Earned Constitutionally-Guaranteed Benefits: 17 Antedated Illinois Court Cases (March 2013)

Illinois Pension Reform: My address to members of the State Universities Annuitants Association, April 26th (April 2013)

"The Illinois Constitution [should] impede pension reform" (May 2013)

Constitutional Issues Concerning Senate Bill 2404 (May 2013)

Call me "naive" regarding the breaking of a contract in Illinois (May 2013)

12 pragmatic and legal reasons to reject Illinois pension reform (May 2013)

I was recently asked: "Can the State of Illinois declare bankruptcy so it can renege on its public pension obligations?" (July 2013) 

Illinois Pension Reform: 12 Commentaries and Analyses (with one exception) (July 2013)

Today Is Constitution Day and Illinois Pension Reform is Unconstitutional (September 2013)

Illinois Pension Reform Is Without Legal and Moral Justification (Excerpts) (December 2013)

Illinois Senate Bill 1, the So-called “Pension Reform” Bill (or Attempt to Break a Constitutional Contract with Public Employees and Retirees) (December 2013)

Illinois Senate Bill 1, the Preamble: Madigan’s [and on May 15th the Attorney General's] Attempt to Justify the Diminishment of a Constitutional Contract through Eminent Domain Powers (December 2013)

From the 12-page legal document recently filed by the law firm of Tabet, DiVito & Rothstein on behalf of the plaintiffs named from the IRTA and IASA (December 2013)

2014 (10 articles):

Pension Analyses and Commentaries Most Viewed in 2013 (January 2014)

The Concept of “Consideration” in Illinois Senate Bill 1 (January 2014)

Illinois Senate Bill 1: An Interview with Daniel Biss/ with Commentary (January 2014)

The Arizona Ruling and the Attempt to Break a Constitutional Contract in Illinois (February 2014)

Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s and Attorney Joshua Ratz’s “Answer and Defenses” for Breaking a Constitutional Contract with Public Employees and Retirees/ and Rebuttals (May 2014)

The Pension Protection Clause and the State of Illinois’ “Reserved Sovereign Powers” (June 2014)

An Examination of the Illinois “Pension Clause,” or What Part of These Words Do Politicians Not Understand? (July 2014)

Excerpts from the Illinois Public Employee Relations Report: Illinois Public Pension Reform... by Eric M. Madiar, Chief Legal Counsel to Illinois Senate President John J. Cullerton and Parliamentarian of the Illinois Senate (September 2014)

The Honorable John Belz handed down his ruling today from the 7th Judicial Circuit Court stating that pension rights are constitutionally protected for retirees in Illinois (November 2014)

Sosnowski: Amending State Constitution Critical to Fixing Pension System (December 2014)

2015 (16 articles):

ILLINOIS PENSION LITIGATION/ BRIEF OF ISEA, RSEA, HEATON AND HARRISON PLAINTIFFS-APPELLEES (February 2015)

Opening Argument against State’s Sovereign Powers (February 2015)

The Meaning of “Diminished or Impaired” in Article XIII, Section 5 of the Illinois Constitution (Pension Protection Clause) (March 2015)

What the drafters of the Pension Protection Clause intended (March 2015)

“Long Line of Legal Precedent Defeats Any Defense of the Act” (March 2015)

“[The Illinois Supreme] Court has rejected similar attempts to justify constitutional violations on the basis of financial necessity” (March 2015)

“The Defendants' Interpretation, Not the Circuit Court's, Would Create an 'Unworkable' Rule of Law” (March 2015)

"The Pension Protection Clause Does Not Compromise the State’s Sovereignty" (March 2015)

“The Pension Protection Clause Imposes Only a Financial Obligation and Does Not Surrender the State's Police Powers” (March 2015)

“The Unmistakability Doctrine Does Not Apply... [Illinois Senate Bill 1, Public Act98-0599] Is Inseverable” (March 2015)

Excerpts from Brief of Plaintiffs-Appellees (State Universities Annuitants Association, et al.) (March 2015)

ILLINOIS SUPREME COURT RULES AGAINST LEGISLATIVE THEFT! (May 2015)

ILLINOIS PENSION REFORM LITIGATION (Doris Heaton et al., Appellees, v. Pat Quinn, Governor, State of Illinois, et al., Appellants) Opinion filed May 8, 2015 (May 2015)

"Public Act 98-599 is merely the latest assault in this ongoing political battle against public pension rights" --The Illinois Supreme Court (May 2015)

What Should Illinois Legislators Do Now Since They Cannot Break a Constitutional Contract with Retirees and Public Employees (May 2015) 

“Are the invalid annuity reduction provisions of Public Act 98-599 severable from the remainder of the statute?” (May 2015)

2016 (5 articles):

That Disputed Concept Called “Consideration” in Illinois Public Pensions (May 2016)

“The Pension Clause withdraws from the General Assembly the legal power to pass any statute authorizing municipal bankruptcy as a means to unilaterally discharge public pension obligations” —Eric M. Madiar (July 2016)

Amending Article XIII, Section 5 (The Pension Protection Clause) of the Illinois Constitution (July 2016)

From a Response to Senator Cullerton's Pension Reform Proposal and Eric M. Madiar's Analysis (by Gino L. DiVito and John M. Fitzgerald) (July 2016)

A Letter to the Governor and Legislators of the State of Illinois: Today is Constitution Day (September 2016)

2017 (6 articles):

Cullerton's, Rauner's, and Emanuel's Upcoming Attempt at Pension Theft (January 2017)

Lawyer and Lobbyist Eric M. Madiar Believes Cullerton's Senate Bill 17 Is Permissible/ Lawyers Gino L. DiVito and John M. Fitzgerald Disagree (January 2017)

"Once an individual begins work and becomes a member of the public retirement system, any subsequent changes to the Pension Code that would diminish the benefits conferred by membership in the retirement system cannot be applied to that individual" (January 2017)

To the Sponsors of House Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment 18 (March 2017)  

The Reasons Not to be Afraid that the Public Pension Systems Will Default (September 2017)

The So-Called Illinois "Pension Crisis" (November 2017)

2018 (2 articles):

Exploiting the Pension Crisis, Using Pensions Like a Credit Card...by Gary Rivlin (October 2018)

Lately the Chicago Tribune and its ilk have been lambasting public pensions again (December 2018)

2019 (1 article):  

A Response to Crain's Forum on Public Pensions (July 2019) 

-Glen Brown