Bankruptcy

Prognostications on Appellate Procedure

By John Pottow

Justice Ginsburg's stay should not be over-read.  She is exercising her single justice authority to accord more time for the full court to pass on the petition.  The Supremes have a well oiled procedural machinery to deal with quick-response stays and appeals (capital cases), so this sidebar on June 15's significance is just for them to figure out how long they have to make a decision without it being moot.  My tea-leaf read is that if they decide to hear the appeal -- which is warranted only weakly in my opinion vis. traditional grounds for cert. -- then they will enter a full stay pending appeal (and that appeal may well be accelerated).  But if they decide that there's not enough meat to warrant the granting of the cert petition, they'll just lift their stay as a "pocket affirmance."

And My Brother Lubben is surely right that the only thing legally important here is the tort claimants, and they're off on the sidelines right now.

Full post as published by Credit Slips on June 09, 2009 (boomark / email).