Today, the U.S. Supreme Court voted to return the case of State of Idaho v. United States of America to the 9th Circuit for further consideration due to a shift in position by the Biden administration regarding EMTALA's reach. The Supreme Court lifted its stay of the injunction but noted that this would not prevent Idaho from enforcing its law in most circumstances. The case will now be reviewed by an 11-member panel selected by the 9th Circuit.
Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador commented on the decision: "The Supreme Court sent the case back to the 9th Circuit today after my office won significant concessions from the United States that Justice Barrett described as ‘important’ and ‘critical.’ Today, the Court said that Idaho will be able to enforce its law to save lives in the vast majority of circumstances while the case proceeds. The Biden administration’s concession that EMTALA will rarely override Idaho’s law caused the Supreme Court to ask the 9th Circuit for review in light of the federal government’s change in position. Justice Barrett wrote, those concessions mean that Idaho’s Defense of Life Act ‘remains almost entirely intact.’ The 9th Circuit’s decision should be easy. As Justice Alito explained well: the Biden Administration’s ‘preemption theory is plainly unsound.’ I remain committed to protect unborn life and ensure women in Idaho receive necessary medical care, and I will continue my outreach to doctors and hospitals across Idaho to ensure that they understand what our law requires. We look forward to ending this Administration’s relentless overreach into Idahoans’ right to protect and defend life.”
Josh Turner, Chief of Constitutional Litigation and Policy for Idaho, who argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in April, added: “I could not be more proud of what our office has accomplished in this case so far. We forced the Biden Administration to make major concessions before the Supreme Court that it did not want to make, and those concessions are going to save many unborn lives. The people of Idaho should not be fooled by misleading headlines in media. Instead, I encourage everyone to read the Court’s opinions for themselves. The Court may have decided to 'punt' today on merits given Biden Administration's 'important' and 'critical' concessions, but I have zero doubt after reading decision, after standing before justices answering their questions, and after listening DOJ's best arguments defending Biden Administration's legally untenable position, that Idaho's Defense of Life Act is not preempted by EMTALA and will be vindicated in full."