Law Review: Ahart, Alan- A Stern Reminder that the Bankruptcy Court is Not a Court of Equity

Summary: Judge Ahart revisits his 2005 article, The Limited Scope of Implied Powers of a Bankruptcy Judge: A Statutory Court of Bankruptcy, Not a Court of Equity, 79 Am. Bankr. L.J. 1, in light of the Stern v. Marshall, 131 S. Ct. 2594 (2011), decision, finding that Stern reinforces his earlier position, namely that “a bankruptcy judge should function as a court of statutorily-defined powers, not as a court of equity.” With the repeal of the Bankruptcy Act of 1898 in 1978 and the 1984 amendments, there is no specific grant of jurisdiction for a bankruptcy court at law and equity. Judge Ahart find support for this in dicta from the Stern opinion, where the majority states that Congress generally may not withdraw any “matter which from its nature, is the subject of a suit at common law, or in equity, or admiralty” from Article III court. Stern at 2609. Copies of the article are available at West Law and Lexis in the American Bankruptcy Law Journal