Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in an order issued late Monday, granted a request for a delay of that approval sought by Indiana state pension funds, which had argued that they and other lenders deserved better treatment by the bankruptcy court.
No reason for the delay was given in the order, and there were no details about how quickly the issue could be resolved by the nation's highest court.
The Treasury Department said in a statement that "we understand this to be an administrative extension designed to allow sufficient time for the Court to make a determination on the merits of the request for a stay."
Chrysler said it had no comment about the Supreme Court's ruling. Fiat could not immediately be reached for comment.
Thomas Goldstein, a partner at law firm Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld and the founder of Scotusblog.com, which tracks Supreme Court cases, said Ginsburg's decision gives the court more time to consider arguments being made by the two sides. Without the order, a lower-court stay would have expired at 4 p.m. Monday.
"All you can say with confidence is that they're taking a hard look at it, which isn't shocking" he said. "This is just an opportunity to think it through before they allow the irreversible sale to go forward."
Goldstein said he expects the court will decide within a day or two to take up the case or let the bankruptcy court's decision allowing the sale to take effect.
If the court decides to hear the case, it can act very quickly and will likely need to since Fiat has given Chrysler a deadline of June 15 to close the deal.
http://money.cnn.com/2009/06/08/news/companies/chrysler_stay/index.htm?postversion=2009060816