Skip to main content
Supreme Court Case Tracker

Emergency application

United States v. Commander Emily Shilling

Granted
No. 24A1030Stay applicationFiled by the federal governmentPresented to Justice KaganFrom United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

What did the Court do?

The Court granted the request on May 6, 2025: the lower court's ruling is on hold while the appeal continues.

Emergency rulings are temporary and do not decide the underlying case. Justice Sotomayor, Justice Kagan, and Justice Jackson would have ruled the other way.

Filed Ruled 12 days after filing

What's being asked

The federal government asks the Supreme Court to pause (stay) a lower-court ruling from the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit while the appeal continues. The case is United States v. Commander Emily Shilling.

What the Court did

Application (24A1030) for stay presented to Justice Kagan and by her referred to the Court is granted. The March 27, 2025 preliminary injunction entered by the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington, case No. 2:25-cv-241, is stayed pending the disposition of the appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and disposition of a petition for a writ of certiorari, if such a writ is timely sought. Should certiorari be denied, this stay shall terminate automatically. In the event certiorari is granted, the stay shall terminate upon the sending down of the judgment of this Court. Justice Sotomayor, Justice Kagan, and Justice Jackson would deny the application.

Dissenting · 3recorded against the Court's order
  1. Sotomayorwould deny
  2. Kaganwould deny
  3. Jacksonwould deny
Vote not published · 6the order does not say how they voted
  1. Thomas
  2. Roberts
  3. Alito
  4. Gorsuch
  5. Kavanaugh
  6. Barrett
The order records the positions of 3 of 9 justices. The Court usually does not say how each justice voted on an emergency application, so the rest are shown as not published.
Days from filing to a ruling for 31 rulings on applications where the Court asked for a response since January 1, 2025. The band is the middle half, the tick the median, and the mark this application: ruled 12 days after filing.

What it means

This is a temporary order about what happens while the case is decided, not a ruling on who is right. The case continues in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Sources

Facts on this page come from the Supreme Court docket, orders, and opinions for No. 24A1030. The answers restate that record in plain words; explainer copy is written from the record and the filings only.

Checked September 24, 2026