We Are One Illinois, a union coalition, and retiree groups were awarded a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction in Sangamon County Circuit Court. The measure puts the law on hold for now. With this judicial move against the law, the Illinois pension law will not be taking effect, as previously planned, on June 1, 2014.
According to Crain’s Chicago Business publication, Judge John Belz made the judicial order while believing that Illinois retirees and others in the state’s pension systems could very well suffer irreparable harm, should the law go forward as is. He recognizes that the constitutionality concerns that are still deeply contested in the courts need to be resolved. It is thought that the question of the new law’s constitutionality and legality will wind up in the Illinois Supreme Court.
We Are One Illinois and the retiree groups that presented the case have contested the law by saying it is totally unconstitutional. They have asserted that rolling back the benefits is not legal. They also have said that raising retirement ages are unconstitutional. Their claims are based on the Illinois Constitution which dictates that public employee pensions are a contractual relationship. Within the Constitution’s contractual relationship, benefits which the new Illinois pension law rolls back cannot be diminished or impaired.