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Supreme Court: No changes to mifepristone access as litigation continues in lower court

5th Circuit to hear oral arguments in mifepristone case next month

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United States Supreme Court (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The U.S. Supreme Court issued an ruling Friday evening that will preserve the status quo for access to the abortion medication mifepristone pending the outcome of ongoing litigation that is now before the 5th U.S. Court of Appeals.

Conservative Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas opposed the decision in the 7-2 ruling, which was made pursuant to an emergency request by the U.S. Department of Justice to block rulings by lower federal courts that would have severely restricted access to the drug.

The legal battle continues to play out in the 5th Circuit, which is slated to hear oral arguments for the case, Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, on May 17.

The case was brought on appeal from the ruling by Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas that effectively revoked the Food and Drug Administration’s 2000 approval of mifepristone, which would thereby prohibit the drug’s sale and distribution even in states where abortion remains legal.

“I continue to stand by FDAā€™s evidence-based approval of mifepristone,” President Joe Biden said in a statement issued Friday after the High Court’s ruling. “My administration will continue to defend FDAā€™s independent, expert authority to review, approve, and regulate a wide range of prescription drugs,” the President said.

A statement issued by Vice President Kamala Harris stressed the importance of preserving access to mifepristone within the context of reproductive freedoms for women.

“The president and I will continue to fight to protect a womanā€™s freedom to make decisions about her own body and access to reproductive health care, including medication abortion,” Harris said. “No one should stand between a woman and her doctor.”

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s statement took aim at what he characterized as partisan motivated efforts by jurists and political actors to restrict access to abortion drugs whose safety and efficacy has been well documented over more than two decades.

ā€œThe U.S. Supreme Court is right to take this action to protect access to medication abortion and put a hold on the extreme decisions of the Texas judge and the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals,”Ā the governor said.

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U.S. Supreme Court

Supreme Court to hear conversion therapy case in October

Harmful and discredited practice is banned in 23 states and D.C.

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The Supreme Court as composed June 30, 2022 to present. Front row, left to right: Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., and Associate Justice Elena Kagan. Back row, left to right: Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Associate Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, Associate Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, and Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. (Photo Credit: Fred Schilling, The Supreme Court of the U.S.)

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a case about whether state and local governments can enforce bans on anti-LGBTQ conversion therapy for children, a discredited and harmful practice that has been banned by 23 states and D.C.

The case, which will be argued in the new term that begins in October, began in Colorado Springs, Colorado where a licensed professional counselor filed a challenge to a ban in 2022, arguing the law interferes with her ability to treat patients with ā€œsame-sex attractions or gender identity confusionā€ who ā€œprioritize their faith above their feelings.ā€ 

The Supreme Court in 2023 declined to hear a challenge to conversion therapy bans out of Washington state, but conservative justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Brett Kavanaugh voted in favor of taking up the case.

The Colorado therapist, Kaley Chiles, is represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, which is described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as “a legal advocacy and training group that has supported the recriminalization of sexual acts between consenting LGBTQ adults in the U.S. and criminalization abroad; has defended state-sanctioned sterilization of trans people abroad; has contended that LGBTQ people are more likely to engage in pedophilia; and claims that a ā€œhomosexual agendaā€ will destroy Christianity and society.”

The U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado struck down Chiles’s lawsuit in 2022. Her case was appealed to the Supreme Court from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, which upheld the ban in 2023 on the grounds that it regulates professional conduct, not speech.

Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson released the following statement on Monday:

ā€œThe Supreme Courtā€™s decision to take up this case isnā€™t just about so-called ‘conversion therapy’ ā€“ itā€™s about whether extremists can use our courts to push their dangerous agenda, in an effort to erase LGBTQ+ people and gut protections that keep our kids safe. Thereā€™s no debate: so-called ā€˜conversion therapyā€™ is a dangerous practice, not therapy, and it has no place in our communities. These bans exist to protect LGBTQ+ children from harmā€”period.

Attacks on LGBTQ+ rights are the entry point to attacks on all of our rights. The same people trying to legalize abuse under the guise of ā€˜therapyā€™ are the ones banning books, ripping away reproductive rights, and undermining our democracy. The Supreme Court must uphold the 10th Circuit decision finding that these laws are constitutional.ā€

HRC added, “So-called ‘conversion therapy,’ sometimes known as ‘reparative therapy,’ is a range of dangerous and discredited practices that falsely claim to change a personā€™s sexual orientation or gender identity or expression.”

The group continued, “Such practices have been rejected by every mainstream medical and mental health organization for decades, but due to continuing discrimination and societal bias against LGBTQ+ people, some practitioners continue to conduct conversion therapy. Minors are especially vulnerable, and conversion therapy can lead to depression, anxiety, drug use, homelessness, and suicide.”

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U.S. Supreme Court

Supreme Court will not hear challenge to Tenn. drag restrictions

Republican lawmakers limited access to “adult entertainment” in 2023

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The Supreme Court as composed June 30, 2022 to present. Front row, left to right: Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., and Associate Justice Elena Kagan. Back row, left to right: Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Associate Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, Associate Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, and Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. (Photo Credit: Fred Schilling, The Supreme Court of the U.S.)

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a case challenging Tennessee’s law restricting drag performances, which was enacted by Republican state lawmakers in 2023.

The Tennessee Adult Entertainment Act forbids ā€œadult-oriented performancesā€ that take place in public or where they may be seen by minors. Legislators specified the legislation was meant to target drag shows.

A judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee ruled that the law was ā€œunconstitutionally vague and substantially overbroad,” allowing drag performances to continue in parts of the state. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of AppealsĀ reversed the decision in July, however, ruling that the theater company that filed the complaint lacked standing to sue.

President Donald Trump said that his decision to name himself chair of the Kennedy Center shortly into his second term came at least partially in response to the iconic performing arts center’s history of hosting drag shows, which he called ā€œanti-American propaganda.ā€

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Supreme Court to consider case against Montgomery County Public Schools

Plaintiffs challenging LGBTQ-specific curriculum policy

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U.S. Supreme Court (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 17 announced it will consider the case of a group of Montgomery County parents who are challenging a policy that does not allow them to “opt out” their children from classes in which lessons or books on LGBTQ-related topics are taught.

The parents in a federal lawsuit they filed in May 2023 allege the Montgomery County Public Schools policy violates their religious beliefs.

A federal judge in Maryland on Aug. 24, 2023, ruled against the parents. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the ruling.

“Under the 4th Circuit’s reasoning, parents cannot be heard until after the damage has been done to their children,” reads the Supreme Court filing that CBS News obtained. “But there is no unringing that bell ā€” by then, innocence will be lost and beliefs undermined.”

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