The United States Supreme Court has granted a stay of the approval by the Second Circuit of the Fiat/Chrysler deal. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is reportedly responsible for putting the breaks on the deal.
The lower court’s approval of the deal will be stayed to give the court time to consider whether to hear an appeal on the merits. A group of pension funds had sued to keep the deal from going through, alleging that the Treasury Department’s use of TARP funds to partially finance the deal was improper.
I’m sure we’ll be getting more information soon, so be sure to check back.
Update: More details from BBC News:
Three Indiana state pension and construction funds filed papers at the court on Sunday calling for the sale to be halted so they can pursue an appeal.
The Obama administration, which strongly backed the sale, had called on the court to reject the request.
The court says that the Chrysler sale is “stayed pending further order”.
Update X2: More from the AP wire, via Hot Air.
Chrysler has said a delay could scuttle the deal.
A federal appeals court in New York had earlier approved the sale, but gave opponents until 4 p.m. EDT Monday to try to get the Supreme Court to intervene.
Ginsburg issued her order just before 4 p.m., when Chrysler would have been free to complete the sale of most of its assets to Fiat.
How bad is the intervention when the liberal Ginsburg opposes the deal?
by Stephan Tawney on Mon, Jun 8, 2009