Moot appeals and court rulings
Do No Harm v. Lee
In brief
- Where it stands
- Petition Pending
Awaiting an order on the petition
- What it’s about
- Do No Harm says that after Tennessee repealed the challenged laws, its appeal became moot (no longer a live dispute), and the Sixth Circuit kept the trial court’s judgment because Do No Harm had not shown it could affect later litigation.
- What's at stake
- The dispute remains unresolved for Do No Harm and Tennessee; the Supreme Court has not decided whether the trial-court judgment should be wiped out.
Summary: written with AI from the case record.
What it's about
Do No Harm asks when such a judgment should be wiped out (vacated); the Supreme Court has not agreed to hear its petition.
Tennessee repealed the challenged laws while the appeal was pending. The Sixth Circuit left the trial court’s judgment in place because Do No Harm had not shown it could affect later litigation.
The petition asks what should happen to a trial-court judgment when an appeal becomes moot before appellate review is complete, without the appealing side causing that outcome.
Question presented
What standard governs vacatur of an unreviewed district court judgment when a civil appeal becomes moot through no fault of the appellant?
What happens next
The petition was distributed for the Court’s Dec. 4, 2026 conference, where the justices may consider whether to hear it. No argument is scheduled, and the conference does not guarantee a decision date.
Documents
Docket activity
New analysis added
AI analysis generated: Case Briefing
Case data updated: summary, question_presented, generation_metadata
Case data updated: question_presented, extraction_metadata
Brief added: Petition
Sources
Primary materials plus reporting. Best-effort analysis: this explainer relies on a mix of primary materials and trusted secondary sources. Official filings and opinions remain authoritative.