Whether an imposition of sanctions against a party under a court's inherent authority can be upheld by merely reciting 'bad faith' when courts conflict about inherent-authority sanction requirements and the appeals court does not rely on the district court's key bad faith finding

are: 1. Whethe r an imposition of sanctions against a party and not its attorney under a court ’s inherent authority can be upheld by the mere talismanic recitation of the phrase “bad faith ” when courts are in conflict about whether an inherent -authority sanction requires bad faith and when the appeals court does not rely on the district court ’s key finding on bad faith . 2. Whether an imposition of sanctions under a court ’s inherent authority can be affirmed based on conduct that was not sanctionable under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37. ii PARTIES TO THE PROCE EDING BELOW Petitioners ThermoLife International LLC, Ronald L. Kramer, and Muscle Beach Nutrition LLC were defen dants -appellants in the district court and appellants in the court of appeals . Respondent BPI Sports , LLC was plaintiff in the district court and plaintiff -cross app ellant in the court of appeals.