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Supreme Court Case TrackerThe Court, in plain English

Emergency application

Pausing a court ruling

Margaret Jean Lowery v. Supreme Court of Illinois

Denied
No. 25A928Stay applicationFiled by a private partyPresented to Justice BarrettFrom Supreme Court of Illinois

What did the Court do?

The Court denied the request on February 23, 2026: 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 14 days after filing

What's being asked

Margaret Jean Lowery asks the U.S. Supreme Court to temporarily pause an Illinois Supreme Court ruling while she seeks review by the U.S. Supreme Court. The record does not say what that ruling concerned.

What the Court did

Justice Barrett refused emergency help and denied (turned down) Lowery’s request to pause the Illinois Supreme Court ruling. The order does not decide who wins the underlying dispute, and 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 215 rulings on applications decided without a response came 8 to 34 days after filing, and the median was 14 days; this one was ruled on 14 days after filing.

What it means

This emergency ruling addresses only a temporary pause; it does not decide who wins the underlying dispute. The Illinois Supreme Court ruling remains in place, and the docket lists no related merits case or argument date.

Sources

Facts on this page come from the Supreme Court docket, orders, and opinions for No. 25A928. The answers restate that record in plain words; explainer copy is written from the record and the filings only.

Checked October 4, 2026