73 Am. U. L. Rev. F. 129 (2024).

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Abstract

The Supreme Court’s decision in City of Chicago v. Fulton partially resolved a decades-long circuit split around the interpretation of a fundamental debtor-protection mechanism, the automatic stay. However, the limited ruling only applied to one subsection of the automatic stay and resulted in lingering questions regarding the proper application of the other subsections of 11 U.S.C. § 362(a). This Comment argues that despite the Court’s narrow holding, its reasoning and analysis provided a framework that courts can extend and apply to other subsections of § 362(a). Further, this Comment argues that City of Chicago v. Fulton left open the possibility that passive retention of debtor property does, in some instances, violate the automatic stay.

* Junior Staffer, American University Law Review, Volume 73; J.D. Candidate, May 2025, American University Washington College of Law; B.A., Journalism, May 2016, San Diego State University.