320
Stevens, J., dissenting
supersedeas bond was within the District Court's "related to" jurisdiction and because the District Court referred all matters to the Bankruptcy Judge, the Bankruptcy Judge had jurisdiction over the Edwards' action.
In my view, the majority's approach pays insufficient attention to the remaining provisions of § 157, and, more importantly, to the decision of this Court that gave rise to their creation. The current jurisdictional structure of the Bankruptcy Code reflects this Court's decision in Northern Pipeline Constr. Co. v. Marathon Pipe Line Co., 458 U. S. 50 (1982), which in turn addressed the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978, 92 Stat. 2549. The 1978 Act significantly restructured the Bankruptcy Code. The Act created "bankruptcy courts" and vested in them "jurisdiction over all 'civil proceedings arising under title 11 [the Bankruptcy title] or arising in or related to cases under title 11.' " Northern Pipeline, 458 U. S., at 54, quoting 28 U. S. C. § 1471(b) (1976 ed., Supp. IV). As the plurality opinion in Northern Pipeline observed, "[t]his jurisdictional grant empowers bankruptcy courts to entertain a wide variety of cases," involving "claims based on state law as well as those based on federal law." 458 U. S., at 54. The Act also bestowed upon the judges of the bankruptcy courts broad powers to accompany this expanded jurisdiction. See n. 6, supra; Northern Pipeline, 458 U. S., at 55. The Act did not, however, make the newly empowered bankruptcy judges Article III judges. In particular, it denied bankruptcy judges the life tenure and salary protection that the Constitution requires for Article III judges. See U. S. Const., Art. III, § 1.
In Northern Pipeline, this Court held that the Act was unconstitutional, at least insofar as it allowed a non-Article III court to "entertain and decide" a purely state-law claim. 458 U. S., at 91 (Rehnquist, J., concurring in judgment); see also id., at 86 (plurality opinion). The plurality opinion distinguished the revamped bankruptcy courts from prior
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