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The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday granted a Trump administration request to reinstate restrictions for patients seeking to obtain a drug used to terminate early pregnancies. The decision, issued over a dissent from the court's liberal judges, reinstates a requirement for patients to pick up the drug, mifepristone, in person. Three lower courts had blocked the Food and Drug Administration's in-person pick-up requirement for mifepristone during the coronavirus pandemic, citing the risks of contracting COVID-19 at a doctor's office or a hospital. (Diaz, 1/13)

The justices, by a 6-3 vote, set aside a Maryland judge’s nationwide order that waived the in-person pickup rule on the grounds that it was medically unnecessary and posed a health risk for women during the pandemic. All six conservatives voted in the majority, and the three liberals in dissent. ... The incoming Biden administration could seek to change the rule, but that could be a lengthy process.(Savage, 1/12)

The court’s conservative majority did not explain its reasoning, as is common in emergency applications. ... Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote separately to say he went along with the decision to dissolve the lower court’s stay out of respect for government experts. My view is that courts owe significant deference to the politically accountable entities with the ‘background, competence, and expertise to assess public health,’ ” Roberts wrote, referring to an opinion he wrote upholding state limits on attendance at church worship services. (Barnes, 1/12)

Dissenting, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that the policy “imposes an unnecessary, unjustifiable, irrational, and undue burden on women seeking an abortion.” Justice Sotomayor’s dissent, joined by Justice Elena Kagan, argued that the Trump administration’s position made no sense. (Bravin, 1/12)

The contested measure requires women to appear in person to pick up the mifepristone and to sign a form, even when they had already consulted with their doctors remotely. The women can then take the drug when and where they choose. There is no requirement that women pick up misoprostol in person, and it is available at retail and mail-order pharmacies. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and other groups, all represented by the A.C.L.U., sued to suspend the requirement that women make a trip to obtain the first drug in light of the pandemic. There was no good reason, the groups said, to require a visit when the drug could be delivered or mailed. (Liptak, 1/12)