According to commentators, Judge Griesa’s orders constituted an attempt at reviving an infamous and supposedly long-dead doctrine: the “ratable payment” interpretation of the pari passu clause. Pari passu is a latin phrase meaning “by equal step,” or “[p]roportionally; at an equal pace; without preference.” The “ratable payment” interpretation consists in reading the pari passu clause as requiring ratable payment of all creditors. When the Second Circuit affirmed Judge Griesa’s orders, many commentators announced the end of sovereign debt restructuring as we know it. Central to any sovereign debt restructuring is resumption of payment to restructured bondholders only, and the ratable payment interpretation of the pari passu clause makes this selective resumption of payment impossible. The decision, therefore, would seem to doom consensual sovereign debt restructuring.