You don't see many cases filed these days that claim that a state statute is unconstitutional under the Contract Clause. For good reason, since the Contract Clause doesn't do much anymore.
This case is an exception to the first principle, but not the second. Oregon public employees claimed that the legislatively imposed changes in their retirement plan impaired their contractual rights. But they lost below on summary judgment, and not surprisingly, the Ninth Circuit affirms.
When the best claim you have going for you is a Contract Clause claim, you're in sorry shape.
