Bankruptcy and the U. S. Supreme Court

About this book

"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"-- "A bankruptcy court had the power to absolve a state criminal sentence. I left his office doubtful at best that he could be right - the statute seemed so clear. Not surprisingly, the expectations of the Justice were more accurate than those of his young law clerk. At the conference the next morning, the Justices decided by a 7-2 margin that the Bankruptcy Code did not discharge the restitutionary obligation. The opinion was assigned to Justice Powell"--