Cite as: 527 U. S. 308 (1999)
Opinion of Ginsburg, J.
is the same thing with the Chancellor's conscience.' " 1 Commentaries on Equity Jurisprudence § 19, at 21.
The debate concerning this formidable power over debtors should be conducted and resolved where such issues belong in our democracy: in the Congress.
* * *
Because such a remedy was historically unavailable from a court of equity, we hold that the District Court had no authority to issue a preliminary injunction preventing petitioners from disposing of their assets pending adjudication of respondents' contract claim for money damages. We reverse the judgment of the Second Circuit and remand the case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
It is so ordered.
Justice Ginsburg, with whom Justice Stevens, Justice Souter, and Justice Breyer join, concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I
Uncontested evidence presented to the District Court at the preliminary injunction hearing showed that petitioner Grupo Mexicano de Desarrollo, S. A. (GMD), had defaulted on its contractual obligations to respondents, a group of GMD noteholders (Alliance), see App. to Pet. for Cert. 24a, 31a, that Alliance had satisfied all conditions precedent to its breach of contract claim, see id., at 25a, and that GMD had no plausible defense on the merits, see id., at 25a, 36a. Alliance also demonstrated that GMD had undertaken to treat Alliance's claims on the same footing as all other unsecured, unsubordinated debt, see id., at 24a, but that GMD was in fact satisfying Mexican creditors to the exclusion of Alliance, id., at 26a. Furthermore, unchallenged evidence indicated that GMD was so rapidly disbursing its sole remaining asset that, absent provisional action by the District Court, Alli-
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