Today the Supreme Court unanimously reversed the Fifth Circuit in FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine. This outcome was not a surprise, since the Court granted a complete stay of the District Court's ruling in April 2023, allowing mifeprisotne to remain on the market.
After AHM was argued, I wrote that the Court should use this case as an opportunity to scale back two primary standing doctrines: Havens Realty "diversion of resources" standing and "Offended Observer" standing. The Court did just that.
Justice Kavanaugh wrote a very tight majority opinion. Part II is a very useful summary of standing doctrine. All Federal Courts students should read it for a quick review. He managed to keep all nine Justices on board, even where there were opportunities for them to jump ship. (By contrast, see Justice Thomas's fractured unanimous reversal in Vidal v. Elster.) And, as I'll explain below, there is some language here that may come back to bite progressives.
