Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/23pdf/23a814_febh.pdf
Page Number: 11.0

6 

UNITED STATES v. TEXAS 

SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting 

That is where administrative stays come in.  An admin-
istrative stay, or a “temporary stay,” is even more prelimi-
nary.  It is intended to pause the action on the ground for a 
short period of time until a court can consider a motion for 
a stay pending appeal.  For that reason, at a minimum, ad-
ministrative relief should (1) maintain the status quo and
(2) be time limited.  The Fifth Circuit’s administrative stay
here was neither, and thus constituted an abuse of discre-
tion. 

Here, the Fifth Circuit’s administrative stay upends the
status quo because it allows S. B. 4—a brand new state law 
that alters the delicate balance of federal and state power 
in immigration enforcement—to go into effect.  The District 
Court  preliminarily  enjoined  S.  B.  4  and  declined  to  stay 
that injunction.  The Fifth Circuit did not need to enter an 
administrative stay to preserve the status quo; the District
Court’s  decision  already  achieved  that.    The  Fifth  Circuit 
abused its discretion in entering the status-altering admin-
istrative stay. 

The Fifth Circuit’s administrative stay is also temporally 
unbounded.  Because the Fifth Circuit deferred considera-
tion of the motion for a stay pending appeal, the adminis-
trative stay is likely to last until the merits panel receives 
briefing, hears oral argument, and renders a decision on ei-
ther  Texas’s  appeal  or  at  least  Texas’s  motion  for  a  stay
pending appeal.  That timeline would leave the administra-
tive stay in effect for well over a month.* 

This Court owes respect and deference to a lower court’s 

—————— 

*The Fifth Circuit recently has developed a troubling habit of leaving 
“administrative” stays in place for weeks if not months.  See, e.g., United 
States v. Abbott, No. 23–50632 (85 days, from Sept. 7, 2023, to Dec. 1, 
2023); Petteway v. Galveston Cty., No. 23–40582 (41 days, from Oct. 18, 
2023, to Nov. 28, 2023); Missouri v. Biden, No. 23–30445 (66 days, from 
July 14, 2023, to Sept. 18, 2023); R. J. Reynolds v. FDA, No. 23–60037 
(57 days, from Jan. 25, 2023, to Mar. 23, 2023); Campaign Legal Ctr. v. 
Scott, No. 22–50692 (48 days, from Aug. 12, 2022, to Sept. 29, 2022).