"U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes pressed lawyers ... to explain why Michigan municipal pension commitments can never be revised ... [and] challenged unions and a city pension system on their claims that the state constitution bars any cuts to municipal retiree payments, in or out of bankruptcy.... 'Is there any other constitutional right, state or federal that is that absolute?' Mr. Rhodes asked an attorney for a pension system that opposes the bankruptcy. 'Even freedom of the press isn't that absolute, is it?'"  MORE >>