Dykes v. Northern Virginia Transportation District Commission

This Court has come too far in its consideration of the constitutionality of financial obligations undertaken by state and local governments to declare today that an obligation is a debt for purposes of Article VII, § 10(b) of the Virginia Constitution when the obligation is only a conditional promise to pay, it is admitted by the parties to be only a moral obligation, and cannot be enforced through any legal process. This holding allows the “disastrous effect” of the failure to perform to create a legal obligation and directly contradicts the holdings and statements made by this Court in…