From Wikipedia:
A bill of attainder (also known as an act or writ of attainder) is an act of legislature declaring a person or group of persons guilty of some crime, and punishing them, without benefit of a trial. The United States Constitution forbids both the federal and state governments to enact bills of attainder, in Article 1, Sections 9 and 10, respectively. It was considered an excess or abuse of the British monarchy and Parliament. They were abolished in the United Kingdom in 1870.[1]
That is what this is and our former lecturer in Constitutional Law knows it, as do the critters involved.
They are aiming at the foundation of our legal system, using the fraudulent “will of the people” in an emotional campaign to distract from their own goals. malfeasance and incompetence.
The reason the lawyers state this is legal is they are not bonuses, or something extra over and above compensation. They are commissions that form the majority of the compensation.
The people who designed and proliferated the toxic financial sausage are responsible for it, but the contractual commission payments are not the smoking gun. The entire world bought these derivatives from the Geniuses. No one questioned the original premises. These are the arbitrage mavens everyone loved when the market was soaring. People need to change the rules on derivatives and arbitrage so it doesn't happen again, instead of fomenting mob violence.
Since AIG is not playing ball with Cuomo, I think this ends up in court.