The Justice Department and a manufacturer of medication abortion drugs asked a federal appeals court on Monday to put on hold a judge’s ruling that could make the drug unavailable nationwide starting Friday at midnight.
The requests, filed on Monday before the US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, are seeking a short-term administrative stay as well as a long-term stay pending appeal on a lower court ruling from US District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, who ordered the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the drug to be suspended.
An administrative stay would give the appellate court more breathing room to consider whether Kacsmaryk’s ruling should be frozen while the litigation plays out. The Justice Department and Danco, a manufacturer of the drug mifepristone that intervened in the case to defend the FDA’s approval in 2000, had both already filed notices of appeal.
Kacsmaryk said his Friday night order would not go into effect for seven days to give the Justice Department time to appeal.
The Justice Department is asking for the 5th Circuit to act on its emergency request by noon on Thursday, “to enable the government to seek relief in the Supreme Court if necessary.”
The department’s lawyers told the appeals court that if Kacsmaryk’s ruling were to go into effect, it “would thwart FDA’s scientific judgment and severely harm women, particularly those for whom mifepristone is a medical or practical necessity.”
“This harm would be felt throughout the country, given that mifepristone has lawful uses in every State,” the DOJ filing said. “The order would undermine healthcare systems and the reliance interests of businesses and medical providers. In contrast, plaintiffs present no evidence that they will be injured at all, much less irreparably harmed, by maintaining the status quo they left unchallenged for years.”
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