As the Supreme Court prepares for yet another controversial abortion case to come its way, the justices will pore over District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s ruling last week to block the government’s approval of the key medication abortion drug at issue.
Here are five issues that could attract the attention of the high court:
Court watchers like to jump right to the heart of a dispute to consider “the merits” of a particular controversy.
Judges do not.
Their first step is always to determine whether a case is properly before the court. Is it a true “case or controversy” as required under the law? Here, the plaintiffs – physicians and organizations opposed to abortion that are representing physicians – say the FDA should have never approved the drug more than 20 years ago. But can those plaintiffs show that they have the legal injury necessary to bring the case? Kacsmaryk, of the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas, said they could.
“Here, the associations’ members have standing because they allege adverse events from chemical abortion drugs can overwhelm the medical system and place enormous pressure and stress on doctors during emergencies and complications,” he wrote.
But others question whether that amounts to the “concrete and particularized” injury the plaintiffs need to get in the courthouse door.
“Vague speculation that someday, somewhere, some unspecified doctor will be overwhelmed by an onslaught of patients coming into the ER after taking mifepristone does not establish that these particular doctors face an imminent risk of a concrete and particularized harm,” Adam Unikowsky, a lawyer and former clerk of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, wrote in his newsletter.
As for the Biden administration, it told the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals that “plaintiffs…
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