Abortion Is Back at Supreme Court’s Door After Dueling Orders on Pill
The justices are poised to consider whether the most common method of ending pregnancies can be sharply curtailed in states where abortion remains legal
Less than a year after the Supreme Court declared it was ceding the matter of abortion to elected officials, the justices are poised to consider whether the most common method of ending pregnancies can be sharply curtailed in states where abortion remains legal, not just where it is illegal.
After a federal appeals court imposed several barriers to access to an abortion pill late Wednesday night, the Justice Department announced on Thursday that it would seek emergency relief from the justices, asking them to block the ruling while a fast-tracked appeal moved forward.
The appellate ruling, from a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans, said the pill, mifepristone, could remain available while the lawsuit, filed against the Food and Drug Administration by anti-abortion groups, proceeded through the courts.
In its order, the panel partly rejected a ruling from Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk of the Northern District of Texas, who declared last week that the F.D.A.’s approval of mifepristone in 2000 was not valid, in essence saying that the drug should be pulled from the market.
But the panel blocked a series of steps the F.D.A. took in recent years to ease access to the drug — including allowing it to be sent through the mail and prescribed by health care providers who are not doctors.
The appellate court said its ruling would hold until the full case was heard on its merits.
But Thursday afternoon, a federal judge in another mifepristone lawsuit issued an order that required the F.D.A. not to limit access to the drug in much of the country.
That lawsuit, filed by Democratic attorneys general in 17 states and the District of Columbia, challenged extra restrictions the F.D.A. imposes on mifepristone. Judge Thomas O. Rice of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington, an Obama appointee, last Friday blocked the agency from curbing the availability of mifepristone in those states.
On Thursday, he reaffirmed that order said that it “must be followed” by the F.D.A.“irrespective” of what the Fifth Circuit appeals court would do.
Legal experts said the dueling federal court orders could make it more likely that the Supreme Court will need to resolve the status of the abortion pill.
When the Supreme Court eliminated the constitutional right to abortion in June, overturning a half-century of precedents, it made a vow. Writing for the majority in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. said that “the authority to regulate abortion must be returned to the people and their elected representatives.”
Understand the U.S. Supreme Court’s Term
Card 1 of 6A race to the right. After a series of judicial bombshells in June that included eliminating the right to abortion, a Supreme Court dominated by conservatives returned to the bench in October — and there are few signs that the court’s rightward shift is slowing. Here’s a closer look at the term:
Affirmative action. The marquee cases of the term are challenges to the race-conscious admissions programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina. While the court has repeatedly upheld affirmative-action programs, a six-justice conservative supermajority may put more than 40 years of precedent at risk.
Voting rights. The role race may play in government decision-making also figures in a case that is a challenge under the Voting Rights Act to an Alabama electoral map that a lower court had said diluted the power of Black voters. The case is a major new test of the Voting Rights Act in a court that has gradually limited the law’s reach in other contexts.
Discrimination against gay couples. The justices heard an appeal from a web designer who objects to providing services for same-sex marriages in a case that pits claims of religious freedom against laws banning discrimination based on sexual orientation. The court last considered the issue in 2018 in a similar dispute, but failed to yield a definitive ruling.
Tech companies’ legal shield. The court is reviewing a sweeping law that prevents tech companies such as Facebook and Google from being held responsible for the content posted on their site. The case could have potentially seismic ramifications for social media platforms and alter the very structure of the internet.
Student loan cancellation challenges. The justices heard arguments about President Biden’s plan to forgive an estimated $400 billion in federal student loan debt. Conservative states have called the plan an abuse of executive authority. The court is exploring whether the states are even entitled to sue.
This story originally appeared on: NYTimes - Author:Pam Belluck
