Justice Department attorneys on Monday stayed the legal course charted by the Biden administration, though they didn't directly weigh in on the underlying issue of access to the drug, which is part of the nation's most common method of abortion.
Rather, the government argued the states don't have the legal right, or standing, to sue.
“The states are free to pursue their claims in a district where venue is proper, but the states’ claims before this court must be dismissed or transferred pursuant to the venue statute’s mandatory command,” federal government attorneys wrote.
The lawsuit from Idaho, Kansas and Missouri argues that the Food and Drug Administration should roll back access to mifepristone. They filed their complaint after the Supreme Court preserved access to mifepristone last year. They want the FDA to prohibit telehealth prescriptions for mifepristone, require three in-office visits and restrict the point in a pregnancy when it can be used.
The case is being considered in Texas by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump nominee who once ruled in favor of halting approval for the drug.
Kacsmaryk’s original ruling came in a lawsuit filed by prolife groups. It was narrowed by an appeals court before being tossed out by the Supreme Court, which found the plaintiffs lacked the legal right to sue.
The three states later moved to revive the case, arguing they did have legal standing because access to the drug undermined their abortion laws.
But the Department of Justice attorneys said the states can't just piggyback on the earlier lawsuit as a way to keep the case in Texas.
Nothing is stopping the states from filing the lawsuit someplace else, attorney Daniel Schwei wrote, but the venue has to have some connection to the claims being made.
