I reported last month on West Virginia’s motion to vacate the injunction that a divided Fourth Circuit panel, in a one-sentence order devoid of reasoning, issued against West Virginia’s “Save Women’s Sports” law pending the panel’s decision on the merits of the appeal. Faithful readers might recall that the district judge ruled in favor of the law after having initially entered a preliminary injunction against it.
Today the Supreme Court, over the recorded dissents of Justices Alito and Thomas, denied West Virginia’s motion. In light of the difficult procedural posture of the case, the denial is not a big surprise and does not, I think, shed meaningful light on how the justices view the core legal issue.
Here is the key passage from Justice Alito’s dissent (which Justice Thomas joined):
In the circumstances present here—where a divided panel of a lower court has enjoined a duly enacted state law on an important subject without a word of explanation, notwithstanding that the District Court granted summary judgment to the State based on a fact-intensive record—the State is entitled to relief.