Bankruptcy and the U.S. Supreme Court

This book provides a comprehensive study of the Supreme Court's bankruptcy cases, illustrating and explaining the structural reasons for the Court's narrow bankruptcy perspective.

Ronald J. Mann (Author)

9781107160187, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 24 April 2017

286 pages, 8 b/w illus. 8 tables
23.5 x 15.7 x 2 cm, 0.54 kg

'Bankruptcy and the US Supreme Court is a very interesting and well-researched study of US Supreme Court decision-making. The book's sustained analysis of bankruptcy cases shed light on trends - often unintentional, but nevertheless fairly consistent - running through bankruptcy jurisprudence in the Supreme Court as well as the Justices' approach to deciding these cases.' Virginia Torrie, Banking & Finance Law Review

In this illuminating work, Ronald J. Mann offers readers a comprehensive study of bankruptcy cases in the Supreme Court of the United States. He provides detailed case studies based on the Justices' private papers on the most closely divided cases, statistical analysis of variation among the Justices in their votes for and against effective bankruptcy relief, and new information about the appearance in opinions of citations taken from party and amici briefs. By focusing on cases that have neither a clear answer under the statute nor important policy constraints, the book unveils the decision-making process of the Justices themselves - what they do when they are left to their own devices. It should be read by anyone interested not only in the jurisprudence of bankruptcy, but also in the inner workings of the Supreme Court.

Part I. Setting the Stage: 1. Literature review
2. Data and methods
3. Congress and the Bankruptcy Code of 1978
4. By the numbers
Part II. The Hard Cases
Section 1. A Tale of Missed Opportunities: Congress, the Court, and the Bankruptcy Clause: 5. From marathon to wellness: assessing the 'public[ity]' of the bankruptcy power
6. Sovereign immunity and the bankruptcy power: from Hoffman to Katz
Section 2. A Study in Interpretive Strategy: The Court, the Solicitor General, and the Code: 7. Bankruptcy versus labor law: Bildisco
8. Bankruptcy versus environmental law: midLantic
9. Bankruptcy versus criminal law: Kelly
10. Setting text against tradition: Ron Pair
11. Bankruptcy and state sovereignty: BFP
Part III. Amici and the Court: 12. The Supreme Court, the Solicitor General, and statutory interpretation
13. Learning from amici
Part IV. Conclusion: Appendix A. The Supreme Court's bankruptcy cases
Appendix B. Available papers of the Justices
Appendix C. References to the hard cases
Appendix D. Sources of the Court's citations
Appendix E. Sources from the Solicitor General and other amici.

Subject Areas: Banking law [LNPB]