Bankruptcy is a unique creature. It's created directly in the Constitution as a federal system. Bankruptcy is inherently "equitable," which means that judicial decisions are guided by case-by-case considerations of fairness rather than strict legal rules. Bankruptcy courts have wide latitude and discretion to basically do what makes sense in each context.

Here, the majority overturned something the bankrutpcy code approved, because, in its view, the remedy of a non-consensual third-party release conflicted with the structure of the Bankruptcy Code. The dissent disagreed, pointing out there were no express prohibitions on the relief the bankruptcy court had granted, and explaining that, in their view, the bankruptcy court should have been given discretion to authorize such a release if ultimately it would make the creditors better off. Basically the majority was focused on the structure of the Code, while the dissent was focused on the practical fact that the creditors would probably get more money from the Sacklers this way than if they had pursued direct lawsuits against them.