On Tuesday morning of this week, the Supreme Court of the United States denied cert in Unite Here v. Trump Entertainment Resorts. In plain English, it denied appeal, which means that the decision of the court below stands. Chapter 1113 of the bankruptcy code allows the debtor, here the Trump entity, to reject a collectively bargained agreement (CBA) under certain circumstances. This seems to put bankruptcy law at odds with the National Labor Relations Act. The NLRA prohibits an employer from unilaterally changing the terms of a CBA even after the agreement has on its own terms expired. In this case the union, Unite Here Local 54, said that the bankruptcy court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to amend the contract terms in Trump's favor. But the bankruptcy court decided that the more specific law prevails over the more general: section 1113 holds here. So it granted Trump's motion. This is surely a case of what the presidential candidate who is a namesake of thi...
