Mifepristone Returns to the Shadow Docket
Drug manufacturers are seeking interim relief at the Supreme Court after the Fifth Circuit blocked an FDA rule allowing mifepristone prescriptions via telemedicine. The Fifth Circuit's decision relied on Louisiana's claims of sovereign and financial injury, which raise complex standing issues under current law. The case revives legal questions previously dismissed due to lack of standing in a related challenge.
- ▪The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit stayed the FDA's 2023 rule allowing mifepristone prescriptions through telemedicine in Louisiana v. FDA.
- ▪Louisiana claims standing based on sovereign injury from circumvention of its abortion laws and financial injury from treating complications caused by mifepristone obtained out of state.
- ▪The Fifth Circuit's ruling relied in part on vacated opinions from the earlier FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine litigation.
- ▪Louisiana's standing arguments face legal challenges regarding traceability and plausibility under Article III of the Constitution.
- ▪The manufacturers of mifepristone are now seeking interim relief from the Supreme Court, returning the issue to the shadow docket.
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shadow docket Mifepristone Returns to the Shadow Docket Drug makers seek interim relief after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit blocks FDA rule allowing mifepristone prescriptions via telemedicine. Jonathan H. Adler | 5.3.2026 10:41 PM In 2023, the Supreme Court stayed a district court order undoing the Food and Drug Administration's approval of mifepristone (aka RU-486), a medication used (in combination with misoprostol) to terminate pregnancies. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit had partially stayed the district court's decision, but had left portions that would have restricted mifepristone's availability in place. One year later the case returned to the Supreme Court, only to be dismissed unanimously due to a lack of Article III standing in FDA v.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Reason.com.
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