Mealey's (September 8, 2020, 8:00 AM EDT) -- WASHINGTON, D.C. — A group of retired Texas police and firefighters on Aug. 17 filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court, asking whether a federal appellate court erred in ruling that a state law prohibiting the first responders from withdrawing their pension funds as a lump sum did not violate the takings clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (LaDonna Degan, et al. v. The Board of the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System, No. 20-203, U.S. Sup., 2020 U.S. S. CT. BRIEFS LEXIS 2496)....