A narrowly divided Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision struck down a hard-fought bankruptcy plan for OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma that would have awarded $6 billion to state and local governments to fight opioid addiction and payouts to more than 100,000 victims of opioid overdoses while also extending immunity to Purdue’s owners, the Sackler family.

Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the majority that included Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Amy Coney Barrett and Ketanji Brown Jackson, said the text of the bankruptcy code does not allow discharging a third party – in this case, the Sacklers – from any legal liability when they are not themselves declaring bankruptcy.