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Page Number: 6

4 

IN RE WHOLE WOMAN’S HEALTH 

SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting 

of Oral Arg. in No. 21–50792 (CA5, Jan. 7, 2022), at 37:40–
38:17. 

Ten days after argument, before this Court had taken any
action on the mandamus petition, the panel granted Texas’ 
request  for  certification.  See  Whole  Woman’s  Health  v. 
Jackson,  2022  WL  142193,  *2,  ___  F. 4th  ___,  ___  (CA5 
2022).  The  majority  professed  that  “the  issues  before  [it]
[we]re not about abortion,” and it deemed certification war-
ranted primarily because the plurality and the solo dissent 
in  Whole  Woman’s  Health  II  had  expressed  some  uncer-
tainty as to the best reading of state law.  2022 WL 142193, 
*1–*3.  Judge Higginson dissented again.  He emphasized
that  the  delay  inherent  in  certification  was  inconsistent
with this Court’s mandate.  Id., at *6.  He added that the 
panel’s decision to certify “effectively t[old] the Court that
its  opinion  was  advisory”;  explained  that  Texas’  request 
was untimely; and concluded that the panel’s decision gave
Texas a second bite at a reading of state law that the Fifth 
Circuit had previously adopted, but this Court had rejected. 
Id., at *7. 

II 
The  panel’s  actions  on  remand  clearly  defy  this  Court’s
judgment  for  the  reasons  ably  explained  by  Judge  Hig-
ginson.  This Court could, and should, have granted a writ
of mandamus ordering the panel below to withdraw certifi-
cation and remand to the District Court.  Mandamus relief 
is  an  “extraordinary  remedy”  appropriate  for  the  “excep-
tional circumstances” now before this Court, where a lower 
court’s failure to follow this Court’s clear dictates has left 
petitioners with “no other adequate means” to enforce their
“clear  and  indisputable”  rights.  Cheney  v.  United  States 
Dist. Court for D. C., 542 U. S. 367, 380–381 (2004) (inter-
nal quotation marks omitted).

After this Court resolved the appeal, there was no defen-