Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito issued an administrative stay on a Texas district judge’s ruling that sought to block the government’s approval of a common abortion drug, teeing up a full ruling by the high court next Wednesday.
Alito, who oversees matters stemming from the Louisiana-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, stalled the district court’s ruling to give more time for the full court to consider the matter.
The Republican-appointed justice’s administrative stay comes in response to an emergency appeal by the Biden administration and the manufacturer of the drug, mifepristone, and does not reflect a final decision on the case.
A three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit issued an unpublished order this week upholding parts of district court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s nationwide injunction while striking down his broad suspension of the Food and Drug Administration’s 2000 approval of mifepristone.
Alito’s action freezes all parts of Kacsmaryk’s nationwide injunction until the full court delivers a ruling sometime on Wednesday.
Justice Department Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar wrote in filings earlier Friday that the appeal “concerns unprecedented lower court orders countermanding FDA’s scientific judgment and unleashing regulatory chaos by suspending the existing FDA-approved conditions of use for mifepristone.” She added that allowing the ruling to stand could affect women, the medical system, the FDA, and the public.
Danco, which manufactures mifepristone, asked the justices to step in, with an attorney for the company saying the lower court ruling would “irreparably harm Danco, which will be unable to both conduct its business nationwide and comply with its legal obligations under the FDCA nationwide.”
The legal conflict ensued when Kacsmaryk issued a broad ruling earlier this month in favor of abortion opponents that blocked the FDA’s 2000 approval of the drug and changes the agency made in the 2010s to make the drug more accessible.
Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Erin Hawley, who represents the anti-abortion plaintiffs, called the administration stay a “standard operating procedure” and voiced confidence in the full court’s review of their arguments.
“We look forward to explaining why the FDA has not met its heavy burden to pause the parts of the district court’s decision that restore the critical safeguards for women and girls that were unlawfully removed by the FDA,” Hawley wrote in a statement.
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Medication abortion has become a larger focal point in the legal battle over abortion since Alito authored the 6-3 decision last year overturning Roe v. Wade, allowing states to impose laws severely restricting abortion access.
Proponents of the FDA approval argued it was granted after a four-year review process and that it has shown to be a safe and effective way to terminate pregnancies. Doctors and medical associations that are opponents of abortions challenged the approval, saying the agency erred by not taking adequate account of potential risks associated with the drug.
