In The
Supreme Court of the United States
CONNECTICUT NATIONAL BANK
v.
THOMAS M. GERMAIN,
Trustee for the Estate of O'Sullivan's Fuel Oil Co., Inc.
Decided March 9, 1992
Justice O’Connor, Concurring
| Topic: Judicial Power* | Court vote: 9–0 | |
Click any Justice for detail Joining O'Connor opinion:  Justice BLACKMUN  Justice WHITE | ||
| Citation: 503 U.S. 249 | Docket: 90–1791 | Audio: Listen to this case's oral arguments at Oyez |
* As categorized by the Washington University Law Supreme Court Database
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Opinion
JUSTICE O'CONNOR, with whom JUSTICE WHITE and JUSTICE BLACKMUN join, concurring in the judgment.
I agree that when Congress enacted 28 U. s. C. § 158(d) as part of the Bankruptcy Amendments and Federal Judgeship Act of 1984, Congress probably did not intend to deprive the courts of appeals of their longstanding jurisdiction over interlocutory appeals in bankruptcy cases. But I think we should admit that this construction of the statutes does render § 158(d) largely superfluous, and that we do strive to interpret statutes so as to avoid redundancy. Cf. ante, at 253254. In this case, I think it far more likely that Congress inadvertently created a redundancy than that Congress intended to withdraw appellate jurisdiction over interlocutory bankruptcy appeals by the roundabout method of reconferring jurisdiction over appeals from final bankruptcy orders. I would reverse the judgment below only for this reason.
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