Texas judge Kacsmaryk suspends FDA mifepristone approval, Supreme Court stays order same day

Federal district judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo, Texas, issues a ruling suspending the FDA''s 2000 approval of mifepristone nationwide, which would remove the drug from the market entirely. The ruling comes in a case brought by the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, a physician group with its mailing address at Judge Kacsmaryk''s courthouse. Within hours, the Supreme Court issues an emergency stay halting Kacsmaryk''s order while appeals proceed. The case reveals the anti-abortion legal strategy: file in a single-judge division where a sympathetic judge can issue nationwide injunctions affecting a 23-year-old FDA approval. The stay preserves access temporarily, but the litigation path reaches the Fifth Circuit and ultimately the Supreme Court.