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Supreme Court Case TrackerThe Court, in plain English

Emergency application

Federal job disputes

Martin Akerman v. Merit Systems Protection Board

Denied
No. 25A26Stay applicationFiled by a private partyPresented to The Chief JusticeFrom United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

What did the Court do?

The Court denied the request on September 5, 2025: the lower court's ruling stays in effect while the appeal continues.

Emergency rulings are temporary and do not decide the underlying case.

Filed Ruled 81 days after filing

What's being asked

Martin Akerman, a private party, asked the Supreme Court to temporarily pause a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The record does not explain what that ruling or the underlying dispute concerned.

What the Court did

The Court refused Akerman’s request to temporarily pause the Federal Circuit ruling; it denied the application (refused the request). The order gives no reason and does not decide who wins the underlying case. The Court did not publish how the justices voted.

Vote not published · 9the order does not say how they voted
  1. Roberts
  2. Thomas
  3. Alito
  4. Sotomayor
  5. Kagan
  6. Gorsuch
  7. Kavanaugh
  8. Barrett
  9. Jackson
The order does not say how any justice voted, as is usual on the emergency docket.
Half of 302 rulings on applications decided without a response came 8 to 28 days after filing, and the median was 14 days; this one was ruled on 81 days after filing.

What it means

The Federal Circuit ruling remains in place, but the Supreme Court’s emergency decision does not decide who wins the underlying dispute. No related Supreme Court case is listed, and the Court did not set the application for argument.

Sources

Facts on this page come from the Supreme Court docket, orders, and opinions for No. 25A26. The answers restate that record in plain words; explainer copy is written from the record and the filings only.

Checked October 4, 2026