No. 25A1208·Vacatur application·Filed by a private party·Presented to Justice Alito·From United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
What did the Court do?
The Court granted the request on May 14, 2026 and wiped out (vacated) the lower-court order it challenged.
Emergency rulings are temporary and do not decide the underlying case. Justice Thomas and Justice Alito would have ruled the other way.
Filed · Ruled · 12 days after filing
What's being asked
GenBioPro, a company in the case, asks the Supreme Court to undo the Fifth Circuit’s May 1 order. It also asks for a temporary pause of that order while the Court considers the request. The dispute concerns Louisiana’s challenge to FDA rules allowing mifepristone to be prescribed online and mailed without an in-person doctor’s visit. Louisiana says the FDA relied on flawed or missing safety data and that the rules caused illegal abortions and state Medicaid costs. The FDA says it is reviewing the rules.
What the Court did
The Court gave GenBioPro emergency help (granted its application) by pausing the Fifth Circuit’s May 1 order (staying it). The pause runs through the Fifth Circuit appeal; denial of a timely Supreme Court review petition ends it, while granted review lasts until judgment. Justices Alito and Thomas dissented (disagreed with the result); the order gave no full vote tally.
The order records the positions of 2 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.
Filing60 days
Half of 65 rulings on applications where the Court asked for a response came 12 to 27 days after filing, and the median was 17 days; this one was ruled on 12 days after filing.
What it means
This temporary order does not decide who wins the dispute over the FDA’s mifepristone rules. The appeal continues in the Fifth Circuit; no related case on the main dispute is listed, and the application was not set for argument.
Sources
Facts on this page come from the Supreme Court docket, orders, and opinions for No. 25A1208. The answers restate that record in plain words; explainer copy is written from the record and the filings only.