Ruth Bader Ginsburg delays the sale of Chrysler to Fiat. Huffington Post
She can ask the full court to decide whether to continue the stay or vacate it on her own, but if she was inclined towards the latter, she wouldn’t have issued the stay. And if Ginsburg has a problem with the government intervention here, just wait until Scalia and Thomas get a crack at it.
This is now getting interesting. Conventional wisdom among most bankruptcy commentors was that the objections to the Chrysler deal were not strong from a legal standpoint. Thus the fact that the Supreme Court has decided to stay the deal comes as a surprise, particularly to Team Obama, which has put its prestige and considerable muscle behind getting the deal done. And any complications or delay with Chrysler puts the much larger and more complex GM bankruptcy at risk.
Dealbook at NYT
Of course, Ginsburg’s succinct ruling may not result in a prolonged stay of the Chrysler-Fiat deal. She could lift the stay after her own review; issue another order continuing the stay until an appeal can be filed and reviewed; or refer the stay to the full court to decide. The court could come back with a decision in less than 24 hours, says Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond Law School. “I think this will be a very quick decision,” he says.
But the clock is ticking. Fiat can walk away if the deal isn’t completed by Monday, June 15.
UPDATE: Via Karen Tumulty at Swampland, SCOTUSblog:
Among the likely explanations for Ginsburg’s action:
* Ginsburg may have decided to share the decision on what to do with her eight colleagues, and they needed more time to think or talk about it.
* Members of the Court may have decided that they wanted to give some explanation, or perhaps some may have decided to dissent and wanted a chance to prepare a statement saying so. In the meantime, it was her task, as the Circuit Justice, to impose a limited stay.
* Ginsburg or the Court may be waiting to see how the Second Circuit explains its decision to uphold the terms of the sale. The Circuit Court issued no opinion on Friday, indicating that such an explanation would come “in due course,” although the expectation was that one or more opinions would emerge from those judges on Monday.
The wording of Ginsburg’s order — “stayed pending further order” — is the conventional way by which a Justice or the Court carries out an action that is expected to be short in duration, and not controlling — or even hinting at — the ultimate outcome. Any speculation that her order meant the Court was leaning toward a further postponement would be unfounded.
UPDATE #2: Stay over! Supremes say sale can go through. (They declined to hear the challenge.)
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June 9, 2009 at 9:16 pm
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