Stockton Ruling Makes Public Employees a Protected Class

By allowing the bankruptcy of Stockton, California, to proceed over its creditors' objections, a judge on Monday skirted the issue that must soon be addressed in the state: whether the overly generous pension benefits promised to public employees in good economic times can be reduced when cities go belly up.

"I don't know whether spiked pensions can be reeled back in," said U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Klein, according to the Associated Press.