The Government Pension Identity Crisis
By T. Leigh Anenson, J.D., LL.M., Ph.D. & Hannah R. Weiser, J.D., M.B.A.
The Contract Clause once dominated the docket of the Supreme Court. But now the clause belongs to the museum of constitutional law. This artifact, however, is gaining new life in ongoing litigation over public pension reform that significantly impacts the financial benefits of government workers such as teachers, firefighters, and even judges. And, unlike private sector workers, for public servants there is no federal safety net in the form of insurance should their pension plans become insolvent. In analyzing the major doctrines and principles of a government pension contract, along with the themes and theories that ground them, this Essay exposes a government pension identity crisis. It emphasizes the thinness of legal scholarship that coalesces around otherwise common areas of study like contracts, trusts, employment, and constitutional law. It further clarifies how the ill-defined image of a public pension contract is complicated by its common law character that has consequences for changing constitutional contract law and reforming government pensions.
Source SSRN
