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Page Number: 3.0

Cite as:  592 U. S. ____ (2021) 

1 

Opinion of the Court 

NOTICE:  This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the 
preliminary  print  of  the  United  States  Reports.  Readers  are  requested  to 
notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Wash-
ington, D. C. 20543, of any typographical or other formal errors, in order that 
corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes to press. 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

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No. 19–357 
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CITY OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, PETITIONER v. 
ROBBIN L. FULTON, ET AL. 

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF 
APPEALS FOR THE SEVENTH CIRCUIT 

[January 14, 2021]

 JUSTICE ALITO delivered the opinion of the Court. 
When a debtor files a petition for bankruptcy, the Bank-
ruptcy Code protects the debtor’s interests by imposing an
automatic stay on efforts to collect prepetition debts outside 
the bankruptcy forum.  Ritzen Group, Inc. v. Jackson Ma-
sonry, LLC, 589 U. S. ___, ___–___ (2020) (slip op., at 6–7).
Those prohibited efforts include “any act . . . to exercise con-
trol  over  property”  of  the  bankruptcy  estate.  11  U. S. C. 
§362(a)(3).  The question in this case is whether an entity 
violates  that  prohibition  by  retaining  possession  of  a 
debtor’s property after  a bankruptcy petition is filed.  We 
hold  that  mere  retention  of  property  does  not  violate 
§362(a)(3). 

I 

Under  the  Bankruptcy  Code,  the  filing  of  a  bankruptcy 
petition  has  certain  immediate  consequences.    For  one 
thing, a petition “creates an estate” that, with some excep-
tions,  comprises  “all  legal  or  equitable  interests  of  the
debtor  in  property  as  of  the  commencement  of  the  case.” 
§541(a)(1).  Section 541 “is intended to include in the estate