Justice Alito joined the unanimous decision of the Supreme Court to maintain access to abortion medication mifepristone.
Legal analysts have expressed surprise after Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel Alito sided with the eight other justices in a unanimous decision in a high-profile case involving a widely used abortion medication.
The nation’s highest court decided 9-0 that the challengers to mifepristone did not have the legal standing to sue the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), with conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh writing the decision.
Alito, a senior member of the Court’s conservative wing, appeared to stun some legal analysts by joining his colleagues in their decision in FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine. That case was consolidated with Danco Laboratories, L.L.C. v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine. Danco produces mifepristone.
The justices’ move preserves access to the mifepristone pill, which is used in nearly two-thirds of all abortions in the United States.
The Court’s six conservative joined the three liberals in a decision that contrasted sharply with 2022’s landmark ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization where the conservative majority found that the U.S. Constitution did not guarantee a right to abortion.
Legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance called Alito’s decision a “remarkable shift.” Writing on Substack, Vance appeared to link Alito’s decision to ongoing ethical questions surrounding the Court.
