Contact: John Hartgen
703-894-5935
jhartgen@abiworld.org
ABI QUICK POLL RESPONDENTS DIVIDED OVER
WHETHER THE SUPREME COURT GOT IT RIGHT IN STERN V. MARSHALL ON
COUNTERCLAIMS
August 4, 2011, Alexandria, Va.— Respondents
in ABI’s latest Quick Poll were evenly divided over whether the
Supreme Court got it right in Stern v. Marshall by holding that
bankruptcy courts lack constitutional authority to issue final decisions
on counterclaims grounded in state law. Forty-six percent agreed (30
percent “strongly agreed” and 16 percent “somewhat
agreed”) and 46 percent disagreed (38 percent “strongly
disagreed” and 8 percent “somewhat disagreed”) that
the Supreme Court was correct in ruling in Stern v. Marshall
that bankruptcy courts lack constitutional authority to issue final
decisions on counterclaims grounded in state law. Five percent did not
know or had no opinion on the question.
The Supreme Court on June 23 ruled 5-4 against the estate of actress
Anna Nicole Smith, saying that a bankruptcy judge's decision giving
millions to Smith (then known as Vickie Lynn Marshall) from the estate
of oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall was decided incorrectly because those
judges do not have the constitutional right to reach outside of
bankruptcy cases into a probate case. In an opinion written by Chief
Justice John Roberts, the Supreme Court decided that Congress did not
have the authority under the Constitution to give bankruptcy judges the
power to decide legal claims that are based entirely on state law and
that have nothing to do with federal law. The Court explained that
federal bankruptcy judges do not have life tenure or the same authority
that regular federal judges enjoy, and Congress went too far in giving
bankruptcy courts extra jurisdiction.
ABI’s Quick Poll is posted on ABI’s home page,
href='http://www.abiworld.org/'>www.abiworld.org. ABI members and
the public are invited to respond to a question on a timely bankruptcy
or insolvency issue. Visit
href='http://www.abiworld.net/quickpoll/'>http://www.abiworld.net/quickpoll/
to access the results of previous ABI Quick Polls.
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dedicated to research and education on matters related to insolvency.
ABI was founded in 1982 to provide Congress and the public with unbiased
analysis of bankruptcy issues. The ABI membership includes over 13,000
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specialists and other bankruptcy professionals, providing a forum for
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href='http://www.abiworld.org/conferences.html'>http://www.abiworld.org/conferences.html.