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Supreme Court Case Tracker

Emergency application

South Carolina v. John Doe, By His Next Friends and Parents, Jim Doe and Jane Doe

Denied
No. 25A234Stay applicationFiled by a state or local governmentPresented to The Chief JusticeFrom United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit

What did the Court do?

The Court denied the request on September 10, 2025: the lower court's ruling stays in effect while the appeal continues.

Emergency rulings are temporary and do not decide the underlying case. Justice Thomas, Justice Alito, and Justice Gorsuch would have ruled the other way.

Filed Ruled 13 days after filing

What's being asked

A state or local government asks the Supreme Court to pause (stay) a lower-court ruling from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit while the appeal continues. The case is South Carolina v. John Doe, By His Next Friends and Parents, Jim Doe and Jane Doe.

What the Court did

Application (25A234) for a stay of injunction pending appeal presented to The Chief Justice and by him referred to the Court is denied. The denial of the application is not a ruling on the merits of the legal issues presented in the litigation. Rather, it is based on the standards applicable for obtaining emergency relief from this Court. The motion for leave to file under seal with redacted copies for the public record is granted. Justice Thomas, Justice Alito, and Justice Gorsuch would grant the application.

Dissenting · 3recorded against the Court's order
  1. Thomaswould grant
  2. Alitowould grant
  3. Gorsuchwould grant
Vote not published · 6the order does not say how they voted
  1. Roberts
  2. Sotomayor
  3. Kagan
  4. Kavanaugh
  5. Barrett
  6. Jackson
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 13 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 Fourth Circuit.

Sources

Facts on this page come from the Supreme Court docket, orders, and opinions for No. 25A234. The answers restate that record in plain words; explainer copy is written from the record and the filings only.

Checked September 24, 2026