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1 I. OVERVIEW A. Background Pursuant to Article 1, Section 8, Clause 4 of the United States Constitution, Congress has the authority to "establish . . . uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States." U.S. CONST. art. 1, § 8, cl. 4. From the beginning, "every financial crisis and period of depression has been attended by the passage of stay-laws by State Legislatures and by pressure on Congress for bankruptcy legislation." See Charles Warren, BANKRUPTCY IN UNITED STATES HISTORY (1972). Responding to this pressure, Congress has enacted a total of five separate bankruptcy statutes: (i) the Bankruptcy Act of 1800, which was repealed in 1803; (ii) the Bankruptcy Act of 1841, which was repealed in 1843; (iii) the Bankruptcy Act of 1867, which was repealed in 1878; (iv) the Bankruptcy Act of 1898, which was amended by the Chandler Amendment in 1938 and repealed in 1978; and (v) the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978, as amended, which is the current law. The current statute governs cases commenced on or after October 1, 1979. Important amendments to the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978 were made pursuant to the Bankruptcy Amendments and Federal Judgeship Act of 1984 (the "1984 Amendments"); the Bankruptcy Judges, United States Trustees, and Family Farmer Bankruptcy Act of 1986; the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1994 (the "1994 Amendments"); the Religious Liberty and Charitable Donation Protection Act of 1998; the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (the "2005 Amendments"); and the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (the "CAA Amendments"). Changes were also made to implement provisions of the Retiree Benefit Protection Act of 1988. The Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978, as amended, is codified in 11 U.S.C. §§ 101–1532, and is generally referred to as the "Bankruptcy Code" or "Title 11."

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