With the fight over solving Illinois’ worst-in-the-nation pension shortfall now headed to the courts, the financially troubled state faces a grim possibility: The plan could be tossed, and Illinois could wind up in an even deeper fiscal hole than the one it’s in now.

Legislative leaders, anticipating a legal challenge from public-employee unions once the landmark bill approved Tuesday is signed, went extra lengths to bolster the law’s odds in the courtroom _ including an unusual three-page preamble to the legislation in which they lay out their case for cutting worker and retiree benefits.

But legal experts say those efforts could mean little in a state that provides some of the country’s stronger constitutional protections of pension benefits.

They point to Arizona as a possible warning sign. In 2012, a judge there said a law raising the employee contribution to pension benefits was illegal, and ordered the state to repay the money to workers _ with interest. Continue reading “Ill. pension fight could create deeper fiscal hole”