Happy Wednesday! Welcome to Supreme Court Brief. I'm Brad Kutner. The high court heard Turkish-backed Halkbank's effort to get immunity from criminal prosecution for alleged financial crimes Tuesday morning, I've got coverage of oral arguments. We also got a short list of orders Tuesday; we looked at the newsworthy bits including the high court's refusal to take a challenge to COVID-era funding's "offset provision," which blocked Missouri from doling out the funds as a tax cut. And finally 250 law professors say SCOTUS's conservative majority has gone "off the rails" and in need of court reform … or at least an enforceable code of ethics. 

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Lisa Blatt, partner with Williams & Connolly. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM

SCOTUS Debates Future of Money-Laundering Charges Against Halkbank

Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court mulled dozens of questions Tuesday about the fate of a Turkish state-owned bank after charges were brought against the entity for allegedly laundering billions of dollars and lying to U.S. regulators.

Turkiye Halk Bankasi A.S., AKA Halkbank, is 75% owned by the state-run Turkish Wealth Fund. The U.S. Attorney's Office of the Southern District of New York accused it of turning $20 billion in Iranian oil and gas funds into gold, which was then used to fund terrorist actions around the world all while skirting American banking laws. A Southern District of New York district judge refused to dismiss the charges and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed that denial of dismissal.