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Supreme Court Case Tracker

Emergency application

Stephen Downs v. Doug Collins, Secretary of Veterans Affairs

Denied
No. 26A363Stay applicationFiled by a private partyPresented to Justice KavanaughFrom United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

What did the Court do?

The Court denied the request on September 24, 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 7 days after filing

What's being asked

A private party asks the Supreme Court to pause (stay) a lower-court ruling from the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit while the appeal continues. The case is Stephen Downs v. Doug Collins, Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

What the Court did

Application (26A363) denied by Justice Kavanaugh.

Vote not published · 9the order does not say how they voted
  1. Thomas
  2. Roberts
  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.
Days from filing to a ruling for 74 rulings on applications decided without a response since January 1, 2025. The band is the middle half, the tick the median, and the mark this application: ruled 7 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 Sixth Circuit.

Sources

Facts on this page come from the Supreme Court docket, orders, and opinions for No. 26A363. The answers restate that record in plain words; explainer copy is written from the record and the filings only.

Checked September 24, 2026