Page:Whole Woman's Health v. Jackson.pdf/8

Rh Paxton; executive director of the Texas Medical Board, Stephen Carlton; executive director of the Texas Board of Nursing, Katherine Thomas; executive director of the Texas Board of Pharmacy, Allison Benz; executive commissioner of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, Cecile Young; and a single private party, Mark Lee Dickson.

Shortly after the petitioners filed their federal complaint, the individual defendants employed by Texas moved to dismiss, citing among other things the doctrine of sovereign immunity. App. to Pet. for Cert. 3a. The sole private defendant, Mr. Dickson, also moved to dismiss, claiming that the petitioners lacked standing to sue him. 13 F. 4th 434, 445 (CA5 2021) (per curiam). The District Court denied the motions. Ibid.

The defendants employed by Texas responded by pursuing an interlocutory appeal in the Fifth Circuit under the collateral order doctrine. See Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority v. Metcalf & Eddy, Inc., 506 U. S. 139, 147 (1993) (collateral order doctrine allows immediate appellate review of order denying claim of sovereign immunity). Mr. Dickson also filed an interlocutory appeal. The Fifth Circuit agreed to take up his appeal because the issues it raised overlapped with those already before the court in the Texas official defendants’ appeal. 13 F. 4th, at 438–439.

Separately, the petitioners also sought relief from the Fifth Circuit. Citing S. B. 8’s impending effective date, they asked the court to issue an injunction suspending the law’s enforcement until the court could hear and decide the merits of the defendants’ appeals. Ibid. The Fifth Circuit declined the petitioners’ request. Instead, that court issued an order staying proceedings in the District Court until it could resolve the defendants’ appeals. App. to Pet. for Cert. 79a; 13 F. 4th, at 438–439, 443.

In response to these developments, the petitioners sought emergency injunctive relief in this Court. In their filing,