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ARIZONA v. MAYORKAS 

GORSUCH, J., dissenting

 JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR and JUSTICE KAGAN would deny the 

application. 

JUSTICE  GORSUCH,  with  whom  JUSTICE  JACKSON  joins,

dissenting. 

From March 2020 to April 2022, the Centers for Disease
Control  and  Prevention  responded  to  the  COVID–19  pan-
demic by issuing a series of emergency decrees.  Those de-
crees—often  called  “Title  42  orders”—severely  restricted 
immigration to this country on the ground that it posed a 
“serious  danger”  of  “introduc[ing]”  a  “communicable  dis-
ease.”  58 Stat. 704, 42 U. S. C. §265.  Fast forward to a few 
weeks  ago.  A  district  court  held  that  the  Title  42  orders 
were arbitrary and capricious, vacated them, and enjoined
their  operation.  On  appeal,  Arizona  and  certain  other
States moved to intervene to challenge the district court’s 
ruling, arguing that the federal government would not de-
fend the Title 42 orders as vigorously as they might.  The 
D. C.  Circuit  denied  the  States’  motion.    In  response,  the
States  have  now  come  to  this  Court  seeking  two  things. 
First,  the  States  ask  us  to  grant  expedited  review  of  the
D. C. Circuit’s intervention ruling.  Second, the States ask 
us to stay the district court’s judgment while we review the
D. C. Circuit’s intervention ruling.  This stay would effec-
tively require the federal government to continue enforcing
the  Title  42  orders  indefinitely.    Today,  the  Court  obliges 
both  requests.  Respectfully,  I  believe  these  decisions  un-
wise. 

Reasonable  minds  can  disagree  about  the  merits  of  the
D. C.  Circuit’s  intervention  ruling.    But  that  case-specific
decision  is  not  of  special  importance  in  its  own  right  and
would  not  normally  warrant  expedited  review.    The  D. C. 
Circuit’s intervention ruling takes on whatever salience it 
has only because of its presence in a larger underlying dis-
pute about the Title 42 orders.  And on that score, it is un-
clear what we might accomplish.  Even if at the end of it all