Mr. Chief Justice, may it please the court.

I'm John Carlo Canoparo.

I'm Zach Smith.

And welcome to SCOTUS 101, where we break down what's happening at the Supreme Court, what the justices are up to, and other things related to our favorite branch of government.

Welcome back to SCOTUS 101.

Welcome back indeed.

We have a great episode this week with an interview with Professor John Yu and trivia

about what I call the court systems administrative state.

But first, G.C., why don't you tell us what's new at the Supreme Court this week?

All right.

Well, we have no new opinions or cases, but there is one big oral argument to cover,

and that is the Food and Drug Administration versus the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine.

This case challenges several actions by the Food and Drug Administration to expand access to the abortion drug, Mithopristone.

In 2016 and 2021, the FDA made several changes to the use of this drug.

Among other things, it allowed the drug to be used through the 10th week of pregnancy

and allowed non-doctors to prescribe it without an in-person visit.

Now, a group of doctors sued arguing that the FDA's decision-making process was arbitrary,

driven by politics rather than the expert medical judgment that is supposed to animate the agency's

decision-making.

At all argument, the justices focused almost entirely on standing.

That is, the requirement that to bring a case, you have to have suffered an injury traceable to the defendant that a court can remedy.

In many past cases, almost exclusively brought by liberal challengers to conservative rules and policies on abortion, immigration, and the environment, the court has taken a very expansive idea of standing.

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