SCOTUS Justice Neil Gorsuch hits recent mifepristone rulings: “Recently, we've had a rash of universal injunctions."

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch on Tuesday criticized recent mifepristone rulings while hearing oral arguments on whether the court would restrict the widely used abortion drug.

Gorsuch interjected during Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s questioning of Alliance Defending Freedom lawyer Erin Hawley and addressed recent lawsuits — appearing to take aim at a district judge temporarily issuing a broad injunction that sought to restrict mifepristone nationwide.

“Recently — I think what Justice Jackson's alluding to — we've had, one might call it, a rash of universal injunctions or vacatures.” Gorsuch said. “And this case seems like a prime example of turning what could be a small lawsuit into a nationwide legislative assembly on an FDA rule or any other federal government action.”

Throughout oral arguments, Gorsuch expressed doubts about the harm that anti-abortion physicians claimed they have faced in treating patients who have taken abortion pills and needed follow-up care. The conservative justice, who is likely to be pivotal to the decision, questioned whether curtailing access to the drug would address those alleged harms.

This is the first major reproductive rights case the high court has heard since the 2022 Dobbs ruling, which ended the federal right to abortion. A decision is likely to come in June and would rule on the FDA’s authority to regulate prescription drugs like the abortion drug mifepristone.