One of my favorite quotes from Lord of the Rings is when Faramir's father insanely requests his unloved youngest son retake the city of Osgiliath. It is a clear suicide mission, but Faramir does so anyhow, commenting sarcastically, "Now is the chance for Faramir, Captain of Gondor, to prove his quality."
Well, now is the chance for Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Supreme Court Justice, to prove her quality. The Indiana pension funds that I mentioned a few posts ago have objected to the Chrysler bankruptcy and all of the other courts have refused to hear the case stating they don't have jurisdiction over the central complaint: That the Department of the Treasury is violating both the Constitution and the federal Economic Recovery law (The TARP bailout law from October '08.)
By the rules of the Supreme Court, justice Ginsburg is the one who can decide, all by herself, to refuse the requested stay, which would allow the Chrysler/Fiat deal to go through. If however, she feels the case is worthy of being heard by the court, she can ask her fellow Justices to vote for a stay and then to hear the case. It would take four justices to vote for the stay, and as I mentioned before, I feel it is VERY IMPORTANT that the court intervene in this situation.
Provided that Justice Ginsburg does not reject the request, it will be interesting to see how the conservative justices (Scalia, Alito, Thomas, and Roberts) vote. Often times, these Justices are accused of unfairly favoring big business, but they are also the standard-bearers for strict interpretation of the Constitution and legislation.
Here's an interesting summary of the Indiana Pension funds' objection to the restructuring.
