Whether a state prosecutor can recover previously discharged debts on behalf of bankruptcy creditors following a criminal prosecution and by way of a restitution award sought with the express intent of making the creditors whole

QUESTION PRESENTED Section 524 of the United States Bankruptcy Code provides that a bankruptcy discharge “operates as an injunction against the commencement or continuation of an action, the employment of process, or an act, to collect, recover or offset” a discharged debt. 11 U.S.C. § 524(a)(2) (2018); Taggart v. Lorenzen, 139 S. Ct. 1795, 1799 (2019) (explaining that the discharge order “bars creditors from attempting to collect any debt covered by the order”). The question presented is whether a state prosecutor can nonetheless recover previously discharged debts on behalf of bankruptcy creditors following a criminal prosecution and by way of a restitution award sought with the express intent of making the creditors whole. i