Appeals court temporarily suspends judge’s order blocking abortion ban for six weeks in Texas

(CNN) – On Friday night, a federal appeals court temporarily suspended a judge’s order blocking the six-week abortion ban in Texas.

The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit granted Texas’ request for administrative stay of the order.

Texas filed the request Friday afternoon, after US District Judge Robert Pitman issued a blanket order Wednesday blocking the law at the request of the US Department of Justice, which challenged the law last month.

On Friday night, the New Orleans-based appeals court also asked the Justice Department to respond by 5 p.m. local time Tuesday to a Texas request that Pitman’s order be frozen while his appeal is considered. by the Fifth Circuit.

The fight over Pitman’s order could ultimately end before the Supreme Court, which rejected an earlier request by abortion clinics to block the law.

On the three-judge appeals panel that considered Texas’s request was Clinton’s appointee, Judge Carl Stewart; Judge Catharina Haynes, appointed by George W. Bush; and Judge James Ho, appointed by Trump.