Editor’s Note: Law Week Colorado edits court opinion summaries for style and, when necessary, length.
The application for a stay presented to Justice Elena Kagan and referred by her to the U.S. Supreme Court was granted.
The March 13 preliminary injunction entered by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California was stayed pending the disposition of the appeal in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and disposition of a petition for a writ of certiorari, if such a writ is timely sought. Should certiorari be denied, the court noted the stay will terminate automatically. If certiorari is granted, the stay will terminate upon the sending down of the judgment of the U.S. Supreme Court.
The high court found the district court’s injunction was based solely on the allegations of the nine nonprofit organization plaintiffs in this case, who sued seeking the reinstatement of more than 16,000 federal employees who were laid off. But the Supreme Court found that under established law, the allegations of the nonprofits are presently insufficient to support the organizations’ standing.
The court noted in its brief April 8 order that the order doesn’t address the claims of the other plaintiffs, which didn’t form the basis of the district court’s preliminary injunction.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor noted that she would deny the application.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said she would have declined to reach the standing question in the context of an application for emergency relief where the issue is pending in the lower courts and the applicants have not demonstrated urgency in the form of interim irreparable harm. She noted she would have denied the application.