Ruling expected in New Jersey pension funding lawsuit

New Jersey’s Supreme Court is set to issue its ruling on whether Gov. Chris Christie and the Legislature must increase the state’s contributions to pension funds for public workers.

The court intends to release an opinion Tuesday in the politically fraught and financially complicated case.

Earlier this year, a lower-court judge sided with unions who were suing Christie, finding that he was contractually bound by a 2011 law to put more into pension funds.

Christie cut back contributions last year, saying the state could not afford the earlier deal.

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The Republican governor said he’ll put a surplus of more than $200 million toward pensions at the end of this month, but that will be well short of the nearly $1.6 billion the lower-court ordered.

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