(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the oversight board responsible for resolving Puerto Rico’s debt crisis, rejecting a bondholder challenge and bolstering the panel’s efforts to pull the island out of its record bankruptcy.
In a unanimous decision Monday, the Supreme Court said the board was appointed constitutionally. Opponents said its members should have been nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate.
A ruling against the board would have meant more upheaval for a U.S. territory that has been pounded by a devastating 2017 hurricane, earthquakes early this year and now the coronavirus outbreak. The bondholders, led by Aurelius Investment LLC, were seeking to unravel much of the board’s work and eventually get more for their stakes than the oversight panel is offering.
Resolving the commonwealth’s bankruptcy and debt load could eventually help clear the way for more investment and economic growth.
Justice Stephen Breyer wrote the court’s opinion.
(Adds in fifth paragraph that Breyer wrote opinion)
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