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Sunday, June 07, 2009

Courts - "Key points of Chrysler challenge" [Updated]

Lyle Denniston of SCOTUSBlog lists the key points of the Indiana benefit funds’ objection to the Chrysler sale, along with the key points of the consumer organizations' challenge.

[Update at 9:42 am] Denniston has now posted "Analysis: Big hurdle for Chrysler challenge." Here is a sample:

The part of the challenge that raises the issue with the highest visibility and the broadest impact – the legality of the U.S. Treasury’s use of economic recovery “bailout” funds to finance the deal — depends upon a group of Indiana worker benefit plans having a right to raise that question in court. No court has yet ruled on whether the Treasury broke the law, because none has found it had jurisdiction to do so.

While the Indiana lenders were allowed to contest the plan for other reasons, they were denied “standing” by a bankruptcy court to object to Treasury’s decisive role. They would not be hurt by the plan, the judge found, or at least not as much as they would be if Chrysler simply collapsed and went out of business.

In the appeal that the lenders will file shortly in the Supreme Court, following up their application for a postponement of the deal, a fundamental issue will be this one of “standing.” Because the Constitution’s Article III limits the federal courts to ruling on actual “Cases or Controversies,” a would-be court challengers must be able to show that they would be hurt, that the other side is responsible for that harm, and that a court ruling in their favor would cure it. If they can’t make those points decisively, the court has no authority to hear their complaint.

Here are links to all the SCOTUSBlog entries on the challenge.

[Still more] Still more from Denniston, this entry headed "Chrysler and accidents yet-to-be."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on June 7, 2009 08:16 AM
Posted to Courts in general | Indiana Government