Stakeholders ask SCOTUS to delay Chrysler sale

A seemingly important development, via Andrew Ross Sorkin:

Three Indiana state funds late Saturday asked the United States Supreme Court to delay a deal to sell most of Chrysler’s assets to Fiat, hoping to again challenge the transaction after two lower courts approved it.

In documents filed to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, lawyers for the funds asked to extend a stay on the sale, which is set to expire Monday at 4 p.m. The funds are seeking to have the high court reexamine the case, after the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the sale Friday afternoon.

[snip]

The three Indiana funds, which represent teachers and police officers, have sought greater compensation for their portion of Chrysler’s $6.9 billion in secured debt. They have also argued that the Obama administration illegally used federal bailout money earmarked for financial institutions to help Chrysler.

The more the deal gets challenged, the more the administration will have to defend its handling of the auto meltdown to the press. Even if the administration has taken the right steps economically–and I don’t claim to know–it’s a messy political story they’d rather not keep in the news cycle.

So much for that.