An interesting lawsuit...

From the CapFax. It was news yesterday that a retired state judge is suing the state over their plan to make state retirees pay their health insurance premiums are unconstitutional. The state constitution has a provision especially for pensions contained in article 13:

SECTION 5. PENSION AND RETIREMENT RIGHTS Membership in any pension or retirement system of the State, any unit of local government or school district, or any agency or instrumentality thereof, shall be an enforceable contractual relationship, the benefits of which shall not be diminished or impaired. (Source: Illinois Constitution.)

Now I wonder why this provision is in the state constitution and can this be found in any other state constitution. Also, now a retired judge is going to argue that health insurance is protected under this provision?

Should be interesting to watch!