The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear a challenge by President Joe Biden's administration to the legality of OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma's bankruptcy settlement that would shield its wealthy Sackler family owners from lawsuits over their role in the country's opioid epidemic.

The court also paused bankruptcy proceedings concerning Purdue and its affiliates and said in a brief order that it would hold oral arguments in December in the administration’s appeal of a lower court’s ruling upholding the settlement. The court’s new term begins in October.