I'm speaking in the terms that the GSA has to be modified because Stern has basically taken away the ability of the bK court to equitably moot the DC claims. These are Fraudulent Conveyance/Transfer claims that have to be decided by an Article III court not an Article I court.
In other words the SCOTUS has ruled "very thinly" that these claims have to be decided by a tenured Judge in the Federal System, not a State BK one who does not have tenure and guaranteed salary. This is what the SCOTUS was most concerned with in Stern.
In 1973, the Supreme Court issued rules that recognized the importance of these judicial duties and applied the title of "bankruptcy judge" to the referees. Also in 1973, the congressionally chartered Commission on Bankruptcy Laws of the United States recommended the formal establishment of bankruptcy judgeships to preside over judicial proceedings related to bankruptcy in courts that would be independent of the U.S. district courts. The commission called for the appointment of executive branch officers to carry out administrative responsibilities related to bankruptcy cases.
"The Key word is Referee"
The act of 1984 authorized the Judicial Conference to establish qualifications for bankruptcy judges and authorized the circuit councils to establish merit selection committees to recommend nominees for bankruptcy judgeships. The act included no provision for the representation of bankruptcy judges on the Judicial Conference. In 1997 the National Bankruptcy Review Commission, established by Congress to consider further reforms of the bankruptcy system, recommended that the bankruptcy courts be established under Article III of the Constitution. The subsequent legislation introduced in Congress, however, did not adopt this recommendation that would have extended to bankruptcy judges the protections of life tenure and immunity from any reduction in salary
bankruptcy judges the protections of life tenure and immunity from any reduction in salary... This is why the SCOTUS ruled in Stern the way they did, they want the Congress to re-establish the rules that BK Judges are to have Tenure and Salary requirements, then they can decide claims such as what we have in DC.
It really is as "easy as that!"
If one was to read the oral arguments of Stern vs Marshall, one could ascertain the Judges concerns from the questions they asked.
Sometimes You Just Have to See the Light Thru the Trees !!!
