Danco v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine and FDA v. same

April 22, 2023 3:59 PM

The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday put a stay on the April 7 preliminary injunction by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk (previously). SCOTUS sent the case back to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which will hear arguments on May 17. The losing side may still appeal to the Supreme Court. The stay preserves access to mifepristone for now. Mifepristone is used in about half of all abortions as well as in the management of miscarriage, Cushing's syndrome and uterine leiomyomas.

Practical implications aside, the move is also problematic for the separation in powers: If allowed to stand, it would’ve forced the FDA to violate federal law by pulling a drug from the market without following the mandatory procedures that Congress laid out.

—The Anti-Abortion Movement Finally Went Too Far for This Supreme Court, Mark Joseph Stern, Slate

There is zero evidence — stray pundits and legislative backbenchers don’t count — that the Biden administration would essentially put itself in contempt of court.

Moreover, Alito’s dissent demonstrates that he does not care one whit about the women affected if the drug were suddenly made unavailable. (At least he’s consistent; he also utterly ignored the interests of women in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, giving them no weight in contrast to the seemingly inviolate interest of states in commandeering women’s reproductive choices.) Their irreparable harm doesn’t register.

—The Supreme Court delivers a sigh of relief — and an outrageous dissent, Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post (gift link)

Only Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito publicly dissented in the shadow docket decision, though others may have chosen not to publicize their dissent (shadow dockets do not require publishing how each justice voted).

posted by joannemerriam (9 comments total)

Alito’s dissent is absolutely breathtakingly shitty along every axis. If you wrote it in a law school class, the professor would treat you like Uncle Phil treated Jazz.
posted by Etrigan at 4:07 PM on April 22, 2023 [17 favorites]

Alito is yet another illustration that in some cases, even the Republican love of giant corporations and their money, something many of us liberals considered central to their fucked-up philosophy, is secondary to their love of crushing those they despise (in this case women having nonprocreative sex).

DeSantis battling Disney is another.

In essence we are hoping that enough of the conservatives on the court care more about keeping pharma profits safe (and avoiding the chaos of a flood of drug-banning cases) than care about punishing women.

The only Justices who might actually care about the welfare of people affected are currently in the minority, of course.
posted by emjaybee at 4:37 PM on April 22, 2023 [28 favorites]

Alito and Thomas are literal embodiments of a right-wing cancer on our democracy for many reasons, as much as they are a threat to all Americans and equitable access to healthcare, regardless of political affiliation. The Biden administration should take these two extremists seriously and the threat they pose to the Republic. One option is to pack the courts to the gills with those who are at least marginally accountable for what they say (and do not say) at approval hearings, as well as for their activities outside of the courts, vis a vis their financial relationships with billionaires, and the judiciary rulings that accompany the money.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 5:53 PM on April 22, 2023 [16 favorites]

Look if SCOTUS is going to be illegitimate, I for one appreciate that Alito is not trying to be anything other than a messy, whiny baby. That dissent is hilarious; imagine being that unprofessional and pathetic. *sob*
posted by the primroses were over at 6:00 PM on April 22, 2023 [7 favorites]

One option is to pack the courts to the gills with those who are at least marginally accountable for what they say (and do not say) at approval hearings, as well as for their activities outside of the courts, vis a vis their financial relationships with billionaires, and the judiciary rulings that accompany the money.

We're not in a Democratic trifecta anymore. Even if the Democratic Members of Congress wanted to pack the courts (and at this point we're pretty much in fantasyland) they don't have the votes to push it through, not to mention Feinstein's Chief of Staff still clinging to power through a Weekend at Bernie's style escapade keeping the Senate effectively locked down doing nothing in terms of appointing any judges.
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 6:13 PM on April 22, 2023 [16 favorites]

I wonder if Alito is wondering about any flight schedules he might have been on in the past 20 years.
posted by hippybear at 8:08 PM on April 22, 2023 [3 favorites]

Details about multimillion-dollar stock holding concealed in abortion pill judge’s financial disclosures
posted by tiny frying pan at 5:57 AM on April 23, 2023 [4 favorites]

Wow, tiny frying pan, that's so maddening. Thanks for sharing.

I did a Resistbot message related to it, for whatever good it'll do: text SIGN PMTTRC to 50409.
posted by joannemerriam at 10:00 AM on April 23, 2023

Alito's dissent is hilarious! He's so salty that everyone knows that nobody thinks the Supreme Court is legitimate anymore.
posted by outgrown_hobnail at 5:20 AM on April 24, 2023 [1 favorite]