Three Strikes And Recovery Act Is Out

Today's U.S. Supreme Court decision in Commonwealth of Puerto Rico v. Franklin California Tax-Free Trust puts an end to one of Puerto Rico's multi-pronged efforts to deleverage itself. Given the comprehensiveness of the First Circuit's intermediate appellate opinion upholding the district court's invalidation of Puerto Rico's Recovery Act, it was surprising that the highest court took the case, a decision apparently prompted by Justice Sotomayor's interest in obtaining a reversal. Comments of some other Justices at oral arguments raised the possibility of Sotomayor attracting a majority for the proposition that the preemption provisions of Section 903 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code were inapplicable to Puerto Rico, but in the end only Justice Ginsburg joined what turned out to be Sotomayor's dissenting opinion in a 5-2 ruling upholding the relegation of the Recovery Act to the dustbins of history.