The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked a nationwide settlement with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma that would protect members of the Sackler family who own the company from civil lawsuits over the toll of opioids.

The judges agreed to a request from the Biden administration to put the brakes on an agreement reached last year with state and local governments. In addition, the Supreme Court will hear arguments before the end of the year on whether the settlement can go ahead.

The deal would allow the company to emerge from bankruptcy as a different entity, with profits used to fight the opioid epidemic. Members of the Sackler family would contribute up to $6 billion.

But an important part of the agreement would protect family members, who are not seeking bankruptcy protection as individuals, from lawsuits.

The American trustee, represented by the Department of Justice, opposes the release of the Sackler family from legal liability.

The judges instructed the parties to consider whether the bankruptcy law allows for a blanket shield against lawsuits filed by all opioid victims.

The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals had approved the reorganization plan.

Lawyers for Purdue and other parties to the agreement had urged the judges to stay out of the case. This is an unwarranted stay request that, if granted, would harm victims and unnecessarily delay the distribution of billions of dollars to mitigate the opioid crisis, Purdue lawyers wrote.

Ed Neiger, a lawyer who represents individual victims of the opioid crisis who would be eligible for a share of the settlement, said it was a disappointment that they had to wait longer for compensation, but also praised the court for agreeing to deal soon They clearly see the urgency of the matter, he said.

Another group, mostly parents of people who have died of opioid overdoses, have called for the settlement not to be accepted.

Opioids have been linked to more than 70,000 fatal overdoses per year in the US in recent years. Most of them are from fentanyl and other synthetic drugs. But the crisis deepened in the early 2000s as OxyContin and other powerful prescription pain relievers took over.

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Associated Press writer Geoff Mulvihill contributed to this report from Cherry Hill, New Jersey.