Mich. Judge: Detroit bankruptcy unconstitutional - doesn’t ‘honor’ Obama

Well, that was quick. Less than 24 hours after Detroit filed for bankruptcy, a Michigan judge has ruled that the filing is invalid. Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Rosemary Aquilina said that Michigan state law has safeguards which prevent retirement pensions from being diminished. Normally, a federal bankruptcy would supersede those laws, but she decided that the Governor and city violated the state constitution because they "know" that pensions will be impacted as a result of their actions.

---

Judge Aquilina has strong Democratic ties, which you could probably guess from her comments in the following Detroit News report:

“It’s cheating, sir, and it’s cheating good people who work,” the judge told assistant Attorney General Brian Devlin. “It’s also not honoring the (United States) president, who took (Detroit’s auto companies) out of bankruptcy.” Aquilina said she would make sure President Obama got a copy of her order. "I know he’s watching this,” she said, predicting the president ultimately will have to do something to make sure existing city workers’ pension agreements are honored.

So there's the heart of the matter. The Obama reelection campaign informed the world that a hypothetical President Romney would have "let Detroit go bankrupt." Now that Obama's back in office, it would be pretty embarrassing to let the city file for Chapter 9 protection. His union cronies would have a conniption fit. So, a loyal judge has entered the fray. Michigan's attorney general has already filed an appeal, and this will either be overturned or simply ignored by the bankruptcy court. But still, maybe someone can tell me: When did "honoring the President" become a factor in municipal bankruptcy?