United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative

Background

The federal government applied for emergency relief to pause parts of a lower-court order in a case from the Northern District of California (No. 98-0088 CRB) dated July 17, 2000. The Court, after referral by Justice O’Connor, granted a stay as to the order that modified the injunction and as to paragraph 6 of the amended preliminary injunction. The stay will remain in effect while the Ninth Circuit decides the appeal and until the Supreme Court issues any further order. Justice Breyer did not take part in the decision.

Reasoning

The decision to grant a stay required weighing competing harms and the public interest—what courts call the “stay equities.” Justice Stevens, in a written dissent, said the government did not show that denying medicine to seriously ill and dying patients would serve the public interest. He wrote that the parties opposing the stay had shown the stay would cause them irreparable harm, and on that basis he would have denied the requested relief. The Court’s short order itself does not explain its reasons in detail.

Real world impact

The immediate effect is a temporary pause of the district court’s modified injunction provisions while appeals proceed. That pause could delay or change who can obtain certain medicine, and the status quo may change again depending on the appeals and any future orders from this Court. This is an interim, not final, resolution of the underlying dispute.

Dissents or concurrances

Justice Stevens dissented, arguing the balance of harms favored denying the stay because respondents faced irreparable harm and patients risked losing needed medicine.