Why it matters: The decision forestalled what would have been an unprecedented court-ordered rollback of FDA powers and at lest temporarily settled a legal standoff arising from conflicting orders issued by separate federal courts on abortion pills.
- The U.S. district court in Texas and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals orders reimposed restrictions on mifepristone that FDA had gradually removed over the years.
- Buta Washington state federal court ruled that the FDA cannot roll back access to mifepristone in 17 states and the District of Columbia, in a case brought by Democratic state attorneys general.
Details: Without issuing an opinion,Justice Samuel Alito ordered that the lower court rulings are stayed until next Wednesday, April 19.
- He ordered the anti-abortion groups that originally brought the lawsuit to respond to the Justice Department’s appeal of the rulings by Tuesday.
State of play: The DOJ argued in its appeal onFriday that if the mifepristone restrictions took effect, they would “upend the status quo based on the court’s deeply misguided assessment of mifepristone’s safety.”
Between the lines: Friday’s ruling came less than a year after the high court overturned Roe v. Wade, in a case during which justices argued that the high court did not have the authority to create national abortion policy.