[UPDATE 6:23 p.m. ET: The 5th District has instructed the plaintiffs in the Texas case trying to revoke authorization to mifepristone to have responses to them by Tuesday midnight local time.]
The Biden Administration’s Justice Department has filed a request for the court to keep mifepristone on the market with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, seeking an injunction on the order from a far-right activist judge that would cease distribution of the drug across the United States, CNBC reports.
The Administration sought the court’s intervention by noon on Thursday to prevent the order from North Texas District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointee, from taking effect. Critics say Kacsmaryk’s decision ignores scientific data about the safety of the medication and leans heavily on questionable legal theories and misinformation.
Hours after Kacsmaryk’s ruling, a federal district judge in Washington State, Tim Rice, an Obama appointee, issued a conflicting order requiring the FDA to keep the drug on the market. An appeals court ruling would decide the fate of the drug’s availability for the immediate future.