[goldstategop]

Judges can’t order the government to raise taxes. That would be the only realistic way to pay for existing pension benefits. Ain’t gonna happen.

[Tzimisce]

Judges can’t order the government to raise taxes. That would be the only realistic way to pay for existing pension benefits. Ain’t gonna happen.

I believe states have sued for bankruptcy before only to have judges tell them they can not renegotiate Union contracts.

But let's assume judges haven't. There is nothing stopping them from doing it now.

[NVDave]

Judges have ordered elected officials to raise taxes in the past. This has happened in places like Missouri and Vermont over school funding.

Now, the ability of courts to make these orders has been constrained somewhat by Missouri v. Jenkins (1995), but I don’t doubt that in a BK court, that ruling would be seen as non-applicable. There is no legal precedent for a judge to feel constrained to NOT be able to order a state legislature to “do their job and raise taxes,” especially when the judge starts citing duties of the state to a) educate children and b) pay their creditors, which are enshrined in some state constitutions. A judge would be on solid ground in a state-level BK proceeding to tell the legislature to raise taxes to discharge these two duties...