The Silence of The Court

On the very narrow ground that the Court did not find that the opponents of the sale of Chrysler had met the “burden of proof” standard to merit a full hearing of the Supreme Court, the Court turned down the appeal made by the three pension plans in Indiana.
In other words, the Court has not said which way it would have ruled—or might rule in a GM case if someone does meet that standard. It takes no stand on the question of whether or not there might be a valid case for blocking such a sale or restructuring—only that this particular set of complainants did not make a strong enough case this weekend.
It has merely ducked the issue in what may have been a fit of political and economic wisdom. I take back nothing of what I wrote a few hours ago about the court’s absolute power. It merely chose not to exercise that power in this instance.
The power is no more limited or answerable than it was this morning. The fact remains, one member of the court did block the sale for 24 hours. The full court could well have chosen to intervene and block it either permanently or until the whole issue was moot.
Today’s action was a bit like a man showing you that he has indeed a dangerous weapon in his possession—but he chooses not to fire it, this time. I imagine that the Obama White House is breathing a lot easier tonight.
Chrysler may not survive a merger with Fiat. It nearly didn’t survive one with Daimler-Benz. But at least it has a fighting chance. The Court has allowed it to go on breathing for at least a bit longer