5th Circuit Pulls a 5th Circuit on Abortion Pill

INSIDE: Kay Ivey ... Bill Lee ... Jeff Landry

Mifepristone (Photo by Bill Grenblatt/Liaison). Getty Images

Biggest Threat To Abortion Since Dobbs

UPDATE: The Supreme Court on Monday morning issued administrative stays in both of the weekend’s appeals from mifepristone manufacturers, meaning that the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals’ nationwide ban on the remote dispensing of the abortion pill is lifted at least until May 11 at 5 p.m. ET.

By now, you’ve seen the Friday p.m. news that a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals effectively instituted an immediate nationwide ban on the prescribing of the abortion pill mifepristone by telemedicine and on sending it to patients by mail.

Rather than seeking a review by the full appeals court, the pill’s manufacturers went directly to the Supreme Court on Saturday seeking emergency relief from the new in-person dispensing requirement.

The ban, which came in a case brought by the state of Louisiana against the FDA, applies in red and blue states alike, though it bites especially hard in states that have mostly banned abortion.

“While this is not the final word on the case, this decision represents the most sweeping threat to abortion since the overturning of Roe v. Wade,” Kelly Baden, vice president for public policy at the Guttmacher Institute, said in a statement. “If allowed to stand, it would severely restrict access to mifepristone in every state, including those where abortion is broadly legal and where voters have acted to protect abortion rights.”

The 5th Circuit panel (Kyle Duncan, Trump; Leslie Southwick, Bush II; and Kurt Engelhardt, Trump) found that Louisiana would be harmed if access to the pill continued while the case proceeds because it would cause unlawful abortions within the state’s borders. As Georgetown law professor Steve Vladeck observed over the weekend: “[M]ost gallingly, the panel’s ruling pays no attention to the other side of the equities—the harm not just to Louisianans, but to people in states in which abortions are generally legal from an order reimposing an in-person dispensation requirement.”

The Supreme Court previously torpedoed a challenge to mifepristone out of the 5th Circuit on standing grounds, but hadn’t ruled on the merits. The district court in this newer case found that Louisiana was likely to prevail on the merits but declined to allow the ban to take effect while the case proceeds. With its decision Friday, the 5th Circuit reversed that ruling.

We should hear from the Supreme Court on this matter as soon as today.

For Your Radar …

Chris Geidner has a good rundown on the three major categories of cases currently in the uber-reactionary hands of the 5th Circuit:

• the mifepristone case (see above);

• a disturbing anti-trans subpoena of a Rhode Island hospital that the DOJ hand-picked U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor of Texas to enforce, which he promptly did within hours last week; and

• The impact of Louisiana v. Callais on Louisiana’s House district map (see below).

The 5th Circuit has not just consistently tried to push the Roberts Court further to the right but it has actively looked for opportunities to do so.

Trump DOJ Watch

• D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro suggested Sunday that she is still gunning for Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell even though she made a public display last month of dropping her investigation of him.

• Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Sunday that not everyone who posts “86 47” online will be prosecuted and continued to vaguely refer to “other evidence” that makes the case against former FBI Director Jim Comey different.

• The FBI redirected a quarter of its personnel to work on Trump’s mass deportation operation, according to records FOIA’ed by The Intercept.

The Corruption: Trump Lawyer Edition

Politico: In Trump II, at least 10 of the president’s former lawyers have landed jobs in the administration or been nominated to the federal bench.

Post-VRA House Redistricting Wars

Things are moving awfully fast after the Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais. On Friday, two Republican governors in the South called their legislatures back into immediate special sessions starting this week to redraw House maps in time for the 2026 midterm elections:

• Alabama: On Friday, Republican Gov. Kay Ivey called a special session of the legislature beginning this afternoon that looks likely to eliminate at least one of the state’s two majority-Black districts in advance of this year’s midterm elections. Republicans in the state, where the primary election is set for May 19, are considering holding special elections for House districts under a new map. The GOP machinations remain contingent on the Supreme Court allowing the state to revisit its House district map.

• Tennessee: On Friday afternoon, Republican Gov. Bill Lee called a special session of the legislature beginning Tuesday to eliminate the state’s sole majority-Black district, in Memphis, in time for the midterm election.

• Louisiana: Republican Gov. Jeff Landry’s suspension of the primary for House races to give the state time to eliminate one or both majority-Black districts before the midterms caused confusion on the first day of early voting on Saturday. Meanwhile, at least two lawsuits have been filed in federal and state court challenging Landry’s move.

From Beyond the Grave …

Quote of the Day

“I’d be a shitty Republican.”—Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), on the quiet GOP effort to persuade him to switch parties

Mass Deportation Watch

WaPo: Internal ICE records reveal widespread use of force in detention centers

Giuliani in Critical Condition

Rudy Giuliani is in critical but stable condition in a Florida hospital, according to his spokesperson, who provided no additional details on the former NYC mayor.