Post by Logan on Feb 18, 2016 1:43:51 GMT -6
Clint Bolick, the former Goldwater Institute lawyer who now is an Arizona Supreme Court justice, said Tuesday he would not recuse himself from a high-profile pension case despite a request from the plaintiffs.
The case stems from a requirement over the past four years that judges, politicians and public-safety workers pay significantly more out of their pockets for their state-sponsored pension benefits.
Two Arizona Court of Appeals judges are suing to strike down the higher payments, contending they are unconstitutional — even though the 2011 law was passed to help shore up their financially troubled state pension trust.
Judges Philip Hall and Jon Thompson want a special Supreme Court judicial panel to affirm a lower court's decision to refund the big increases they and roughly 200 other judges have had to pay. They also want to restore some changes that were made to curtail permanent benefit increases for retirees. They contend the law violates contract, public-retirement and judicial-salary clauses, with the latter saying a judge's pay cannot be reduced while in office.
Read more: www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/investigations/2016/02/16/judges-seek-big-pension-refund-state-supreme-court/80261006/#
The case stems from a requirement over the past four years that judges, politicians and public-safety workers pay significantly more out of their pockets for their state-sponsored pension benefits.
Two Arizona Court of Appeals judges are suing to strike down the higher payments, contending they are unconstitutional — even though the 2011 law was passed to help shore up their financially troubled state pension trust.
Judges Philip Hall and Jon Thompson want a special Supreme Court judicial panel to affirm a lower court's decision to refund the big increases they and roughly 200 other judges have had to pay. They also want to restore some changes that were made to curtail permanent benefit increases for retirees. They contend the law violates contract, public-retirement and judicial-salary clauses, with the latter saying a judge's pay cannot be reduced while in office.
Read more: www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/investigations/2016/02/16/judges-seek-big-pension-refund-state-supreme-court/80261006/#