# Texas Federal Judge strikes down FDA approval of the abortion pill (competing lawsuit filed, outcome uncertain) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 8, 2023, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-federal-judge-strikes-down-fda-approval-of-the-abortion-pill-competing-lawsuit-filed-outcome-uncertain/982351 "2023-04-08T01:32:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2023, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-federal-judge-strikes-down-fda-approval-of-the-abortion-pill-competing-lawsuit-filed-outcome-uncertain/982351/1 "2023-04-08T01:32:21Z")
Just released about an hour ago, and I don’t see any thread on it? > **[Judges issue conflicting abortion-pill injunctions](https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-judge-hands-anti-abortion-groups-partial-win-over-abortion-pill-2023-04-07/)** > > A second federal judge issued a conflicting ruling on the same day. The judge hled that the EPA made a mistake 23 years ago and shouldn’t have approved mifepristone as safe for medical abortions. Same judge who struck down parts of Affordable Care Act several years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2023, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-federal-judge-strikes-down-fda-approval-of-the-abortion-pill-competing-lawsuit-filed-outcome-uncertain/982351/2 "2023-04-08T01:34:05Z")
But a federal District Court judge in Washington state has upheld the FDA and directed that the pill can still be used: > **[Judge in Washington orders feds to keep abortion pill access](https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/nation-world/story/2023-04-07/judge-in-washington-orders-feds-to-keep-abortion-pill-access)** > > A federal judge in Washington state on Friday ordered U.S. authorities not to make any changes that would restrict access to the abortion medication mifepristone in 17 Democratic-led states that sued over the issue, countering a ruling by a judge in... ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2023, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-federal-judge-strikes-down-fda-approval-of-the-abortion-pill-competing-lawsuit-filed-outcome-uncertain/982351/3 "2023-04-08T01:36:25Z")
ISTM the US judicial system has become a process of continually throwing shit at the wall until you find a judge that lets it stick. Just saw your second post. Seems a guaranteed trip to the US Supreme Court. Not confident in them at all. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2023, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-federal-judge-strikes-down-fda-approval-of-the-abortion-pill-competing-lawsuit-filed-outcome-uncertain/982351/4 "2023-04-08T01:45:39Z")
No. Perhaps Thomas will be away on an all expense paid fun trip. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2023, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-federal-judge-strikes-down-fda-approval-of-the-abortion-pill-competing-lawsuit-filed-outcome-uncertain/982351/5 "2023-04-08T02:03:33Z")
Boy, this federal judge shopping is really ugly shit. I guess I was silly for feeling good about the failure of conservative school board candidates in my area! 🙄 ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2023, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-federal-judge-strikes-down-fda-approval-of-the-abortion-pill-competing-lawsuit-filed-outcome-uncertain/982351/6 "2023-04-08T02:06:00Z")
Oregon Health Authority announced that mifepristone and abortion will remain legal in the state. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2023, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-federal-judge-strikes-down-fda-approval-of-the-abortion-pill-competing-lawsuit-filed-outcome-uncertain/982351/7 "2023-04-08T02:22:52Z")
For once, the Soviet of Washington is ahead of the curve: > **[Washington state stockpiles thousands of abortion pills](https://www.npr.org/2023/04/04/1167867948/washington-state-stockpiles-thousands-of-abortion-pills)** > > Democratic state officials say they're ready to dispense thousands of mifepristone doses if access to the pill becomes difficult as a result of a pending federal lawsuit. > Washington state officials have stocked up on a key abortion drug in preparation for the possibility that it could become much more difficult to access nationwide, pending the outcome of a [federal lawsuit](https://www.npr.org/2023/03/15/1163670457/abortion-pill-kacsmaryk-mifepristone-texas)brought by anti-abortion-rights groups. > > Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, says he ordered the Washington Department of Corrections to use its pharmacy license to buy 30,000 doses of mifepristone, an estimated three-year supply for patients in Washington state. The pills were received on March 31. > > Inslee says the University of Washington has obtained an additional 10,000 doses, or about enough for a fourth year. > > Noting that Washington is the first state to take such an action, Inslee called the purchase “an insurance policy” in case the drug becomes unavailable. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2023, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-federal-judge-strikes-down-fda-approval-of-the-abortion-pill-competing-lawsuit-filed-outcome-uncertain/982351/8 "2023-04-08T03:43:01Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Boy, this federal judge shopping is really ugly shit. It’s a thing: [https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/03/politics/justice-department-texas-judge-shopping/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/03/politics/justice-department-texas-judge-shopping/index.html) Or… > **[Opinion | Don’t Let Republican ‘Judge Shoppers’ Thwart the Will of Voters](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/05/opinion/republicans-judges-biden.html)** > > How some red-state lawsuits are undermining major features of President Biden’s agenda. Or… > **[Justice Dept. loses second ‘judge-shopping’ case in Texas](https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/03/30/texas-judge-shopping-kacsmaryk-retirement-plan/)** > > Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, who is also presiding in the abortion pill case, denied a Biden administration request to move a retirement-plan lawsuit from his court. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2023, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-federal-judge-strikes-down-fda-approval-of-the-abortion-pill-competing-lawsuit-filed-outcome-uncertain/982351/9 "2023-04-08T04:08:11Z")
> [@OttoDaFe](#): > > For once, the Soviet of Washington is ahead of the curve: But if FDA approval is blocked, can it still be distributed? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2023, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-federal-judge-strikes-down-fda-approval-of-the-abortion-pill-competing-lawsuit-filed-outcome-uncertain/982351/10 "2023-04-08T04:09:56Z")
I don’t see this surviving a standing challenge. The plaintiff’s assertion is that they have standing to sue on behalf of women who regret having medicinal abortions because they’re too embarrassed to file suit on their own, which is downright patronizing and laughable. > **[Legal reporter: Trump judge's claim about abortion drug is 'dumbest' thing...](https://www.rawstory.com/judge-matthew-kacsmaryk-medication-abortion-ruling/)** > > On Friday, a Trump-appointed federal judge in Texas voided the Food and Drug Administration's more than two-decades-old approval for mifepristone as an abortion medication — ruling in favor of a coalition of anti-abortion groups that argued the FDA... ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2023, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-federal-judge-strikes-down-fda-approval-of-the-abortion-pill-competing-lawsuit-filed-outcome-uncertain/982351/11 "2023-04-08T18:36:03Z")
Since we already threw justified snark at Mr. Thomas, I’ll go further and point out that one of the reasons they do judge shopping and @Whack-a-Mole’s throwing shit at a wall, I’ll just go ahead and say it. As long as there are zero consequences for egregiously tortuous manipulations of law and interpretation for either attorneys or judges, it’s the best game in town. The lawyers get rich, the judges suffer nothing (as long as they have “close personal friends” who are always happy to help them have a good time), and the taxpayers get screwed paying for endless politically motivated litigation. The number of lawyers that should have gotten disbarred for lawsuits in Trump’s behalf but instead skated by with censure at best is terrifying. The fact that Loose Canon only got a sick burn or three, similarly. But since a lot of lawyers want to be judges one day, and almost all love some money, they do not WANT to police themselves well. And just like our actual police, since it’s pretty much all internal controls, it’s very likely hopelessly, unrecoverably corrupt. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2023, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-federal-judge-strikes-down-fda-approval-of-the-abortion-pill-competing-lawsuit-filed-outcome-uncertain/982351/12 "2023-04-08T21:36:17Z")
To the idiot judge in Texas: I want to see your medical degree. And I have not selected you to be my personal physician, my healthcare management is none of YOUR Goddamned business. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2023, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-federal-judge-strikes-down-fda-approval-of-the-abortion-pill-competing-lawsuit-filed-outcome-uncertain/982351/13 "2023-04-08T23:09:40Z")
If the Texas judge prevails, at least temporarily, the next step I foresee is for Republicans to make _mailing_ certain drugs illegal, followed by jail time for anyone who _advises_ on how to do that. Shades of Comstock, no? While that might not stop drugs from being delivered from outside sources, it will undoubtedly slow it down, and make the ordering of it more risky. No good can come of this. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2023, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-federal-judge-strikes-down-fda-approval-of-the-abortion-pill-competing-lawsuit-filed-outcome-uncertain/982351/14 "2023-04-09T00:59:38Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I don’t see this surviving a standing challenge. First stop is 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. Second stop is the US Supreme Court. Do you really feel confident in either of those? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2023, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-federal-judge-strikes-down-fda-approval-of-the-abortion-pill-competing-lawsuit-filed-outcome-uncertain/982351/15 "2023-04-09T01:08:01Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > Do you really feel confident in either of those? I’m confident that the Supreme Court isn’t going to throw out the entire concept of standing in order to achieve an ideological win, yes. You’ll note that all of Loser Donald’s various attempts to overthrow the election in the courts were dismissed for lack of standing. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2023, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-federal-judge-strikes-down-fda-approval-of-the-abortion-pill-competing-lawsuit-filed-outcome-uncertain/982351/16 "2023-04-09T01:19:14Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I’m confident that the Supreme Court isn’t going to throw out the entire concept of standing in order to achieve an ideological win, yes. You’ll note that all of Loser Donald’s various attempts to overthrow the election in the courts were dismissed for lack of standing I doubt the right-wing Supremes care whether Donald’s in office or not, now that he’s served his purpose by putting them in office. But I think that a number of them really do care about abortion. However, we can hope. Wouldn’t upholding this substitute the opinions of any federal judge in the nation, no matter how ignorant of medicine, about any type of medication whatsoever including those having nothing to do with abortion, for the rulings of the FDA? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2023, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-federal-judge-strikes-down-fda-approval-of-the-abortion-pill-competing-lawsuit-filed-outcome-uncertain/982351/17 "2023-04-09T01:27:38Z")
Depends on how realistic the legal fig leaf the plaintiffs are using is. An argument that FDA exceeded its authority or committed a procedural violation of it’s own controlling regs in approving medicine X probably has some chance of succeeding at least at the court of first impression, assuming it’s remotely true. A challenge that simply says “Drug X is playing god and that offends my religious sensibilities” requires a much greater amount of judicial misconduct to find in favor of. Do we now have a bunch of judges around the USA who will rise (sink?) to that level of judicial misconduct? Probably. We’re certainly going to start finding out. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2023, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-federal-judge-strikes-down-fda-approval-of-the-abortion-pill-competing-lawsuit-filed-outcome-uncertain/982351/18 "2023-04-09T02:28:42Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I’m confident that the Supreme Court isn’t going to throw out the entire concept of standing in order to achieve an ideological win, yes. They can simply refuse to hear the case. I certainly hope you are right, but I have no confidence in the courts doing the right thing. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2023, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-federal-judge-strikes-down-fda-approval-of-the-abortion-pill-competing-lawsuit-filed-outcome-uncertain/982351/19 "2023-04-09T02:43:18Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > > [@Smapti](#): > > > > I’m confident that the Supreme Court isn’t going to throw out the entire concept of standing in order to achieve an ideological win, yes. ⁢ > > They can simply refuse to hear the case. > > I certainly hope you are right, but I have no confidence in the courts doing the right thing. ⁢ I don’t believe they can, as there are now two contradictory rulings from different districts. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2023, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-federal-judge-strikes-down-fda-approval-of-the-abortion-pill-competing-lawsuit-filed-outcome-uncertain/982351/20 "2023-04-09T02:49:29Z")
But these decisions go on appeal to the Circuit courts. Have to wait and see what happens in those two courts. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/texas-federal-judge-strikes-down-fda-approval-of-the-abortion-pill-competing-lawsuit-filed-outcome-uncertain/982351.md?page=2)