Reaction
Lawyers and lobbyists for the credit-card industry, who had feared costly litigation and a myriad of state laws if the Court ruled against OCC, praised the decision. "It's a big victory for the 97 percent or so of cardholders who pay their bills on time," said a Citibank spokeswoman. "There's no reason why those of us who pay on time should subsidize those who do not", said Kendall. That's not equity."
On the other side, Donovan described the result as "an unfortunate interpretation ... that will allow small states to override the longstanding consumer protection laws of more heavily populated ... states." His co-counsel Ann Miller called the decision "incorrect and shortsighted ... I don't think that the answer the U.S. Supreme Court came up with is going to be the long-term resolution of the problems posed by old laws trying to deal with new and very changed banking practices."
Donovan was especially critical of the role played by the OCC. "We got tackled by a player standing on the sideline as we were sprinting toward the goal line". However, it did show him that he'd underestimated the role played by a regulatory body that, he recalled William Rehnquist saying during oral argument, had never come before the Court with a regulation that wasn't favorable to the banking industry. "We should have focused more on the appropriateness of an executive agency defining what Congress meant by a law as opposed to a court defining what Congress meant by a law."
Read more about this topic: Smiley V. Citibank
Famous quotes containing the word reaction:
“Christianity was only a very strong and singularly well-timed Salvation Army movement that happened to receive help from an unusual and highly dramatic incident. It was a Puritan reaction in an age when, no doubt, a Puritan reaction was much wanted; but like all sudden violent reactions, it soon wanted reacting against.”
—Samuel Butler (1835–1902)
“An actor must communicate his author’s given message—comedy, tragedy, serio- comedy; then comes his unique moment, as he is confronted by the looked-for, yet at times unexpected, reaction of the audience. This split second is his; he is in command of his medium; the effect vanishes into thin air; but that moment has a power all its own and, like power in any form, is stimulating and alluring.”
—Eleanor Robson Belmont (1878–1979)
“Children, randomly at first, hit upon something sooner or later that is their mother’s and/or father’s Achilles’ heel, a kind of behavior that especially upsets, offends, irritates or embarrasses them. One parent dislikes name-calling, another teasing...another bathroom jokes. For the parents, this behavior my have ties back to their childhood, many have been something not allowed, forbidden, and when it appears in the child, it causes high-voltage reaction in the parent.”
—Ellen Galinsky (20th century)