WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court will hear a case today that raises bedrock questions about the ability of the market to set “reasonable’’ corporate compensation, and specialists say its outcome could hold important clues about the judiciary’s view of extraordinary interventions in the economy by the executive branch and Congress.
At issue in Jones v. Harris Associates is whether investment advisers charged too much for their services to the Oakmark family of mutual funds under their control. But it contains parallels to the controversy over executive compensation.
“The fact that the Supreme Court is looking at compensation again is in itself extraordinary,’’ said Charles Elson at the University of Delaware, adding that the court’s history is to defer to the markets rather than to intervene.
It might also set up what could be years of judicial review of the measures that the Obama administration and Congress have taken - and envision - to deal with the economic collapse.
“It’s like the thin edge of the wedge,’’ said William Birdthistle of the Chicago-Kent College of Law. He said the economic solutions of the Obama administration and a Congress solidly in Democratic hands will be judged by “the last of the branches controlled by conservatives.’’
