The U.S. Supreme Court has put on hold a lower court’s order that suspends the federal approval of mifepristone, the nation’s most widely used abortion drug.
In a brief order (pdf) issued Friday by Justice Samuel Alito, the high court halted the enforcement of a decision issued earlier this month by U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, asking both sides of the dispute to file their responses by the noon of April 18 over whether the access to mifepristone should be restricted while the legal battle proceeds.
Alito’s order implies that the court will weigh in on that specific issue by the end of April 19. This type of order, called administrative stay, usually doesn’t reflect the court’s final disposition of the case….