The Supreme Court rejected a settlement with OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma that would have shielded the Sackler family from legal liability for the company’s role in exacerbating the disastrous opioid crisis.

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected on Thursday the Securities and Exchange Commission's in-house enforcement of laws protecting investors against securities fraud, dealing a blow to the agency's powers in a ruling that could reverberate through other federal regulators.

The decision - a setback for President Joe Biden's administration - upheld a lower court's decision siding with George Jarkesy, a Texas-based hedge fund manager who contested the legality of the SEC's actions against him after the agency determined he had committed securities fraud.

The Supreme Court temporarily put on hold on Thursday an Environmental Protection Agency plan to curtail air pollution that drifts across state lines, dealing another blow to the Biden administration’s efforts to protect the environment.

The ruling followed recent decisions chipping away at the agency’s authority to address climate change and water pollution.

The billionaire family that owns Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, will receive immunity from all current and future civil claims over the company’s role in the opioid crisis as part of a deal approved by a federal appeals court on Tuesday.

Members of the Sackler family who own Purdue Pharma LP and grew wealthy from sales of OxyContin agreed to give back $6 billion to settle lawsuits accusing them of helping fuel the opioid epidemic, earning the unanimous support of state attorney generals to resolve their liability and end the company’s bankruptcy case.

Members of the billionaire Sackler family and their company, Purdue Pharma, have reached a deal with a group of states that had long resisted the company’s bankruptcy plan, opening the way for billions of dollars to begin flowing to addiction treatment programs nationwide, according to a court filing Thursday.

If Judge Robert Drain, who has presided over the bankruptcy proceedings in White Plains, N.Y., approves the agreement, the Sacklers will pay as much as $6 billion to help communities address the damages wrought by the opioid crisis.

Purdue Pharma and its owners, the billionaire Sackler family, will pay $6 billion to several states to settle a lawsuit brought about by the devastating opioid crisis, according to court papers.

A New York State judge must now sign off on the deal between the maker of OxyContin and the states.

According to the terms of the deal, the Sacklers, whose cumulative net worth is estimated to be $13 billion, will pay at least $5.5 billion in cash, which will be used to fund treatment centers helping those addicted to opioids.

OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma could be years away from paying billions of dollars to address the U.S. opioid crisis after a judge blew up a deal that gave provided legal immunity to the Sackler family that owned the company, people close to the negotiations said.

In a surprise ruling on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon in Manhattan found that a bankruptcy judge overstepped his authority by approving the plan that gave the Sacklers immunity in return for $4.5 billion for those harmed by Purdue.

The Sackler family boosted its contribution to the settlement of opioids lawsuits to $4.2 billion under a restructuring plan filed overnight by Purdue Pharma with a federal bankruptcy court in White Plains, New York.

Purdue said the plan amounts to $10 billion of value for claimants and communities affected by the opioid crisis that was fueled by the company's aggressive marketing of OxyContin, according to multiple lawsuits.

STAMFORD, Conn. (AP) — Jonathan Sackler, one of the owners of OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, has died, the company confirmed.

Sackler died June 30, according to a court filing. He was 65 and the cause of death was cancer.

He was the son of Raymond Sackler, one the brothers who bought drug company Purdue Frederick in 1952, and served as an executive and board member for the company that was later renamed Purdue Pharma. Like other members of the Sackler family, he has stepped off the board of the company in recent years, though family members retain ownership.