Justice Sotomayor stays federal judicial orders to transfer vulnerable Elkton prisoners pending Sixth Circuit appeal
As noted in this post, last week the full Supreme Court denied, by a 6-3 vote, a request by the federal government to stay a federal district court order to release or transfer vulnerable inmates from the Elkton federal prison. But this ruling was, in essence, based on a technicality, and today Justice Sotomayor via this order granted the stay the feds were seeking:
IT IS ORDERED that the District Court’s April 22 and May 19 orders are hereby stayed pending disposition of the Government’s appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and further order of the undersigned or of the Court.
I believe the Sixth Circuit panel is due to hear argument tomorrow on this matter, but this stay enables federal officials to keep moving slowly on moving vulnerable prisoners out of a prison that has had hundreds of COVID cases and a handful of deaths.
Prior related posts:
- Federal Judge orders BOP to find ways to transfer prisoners “out of Elkton through any means” in the coming weeks
- Feds appealing last week’s judicial order to transfer vulnerable prisoners “out of Elkton through any means”
- Sixth Circuit panel refuses to stay district judge order to transfer vulnerable prisoners out of Elkton federal prison “through any means”
- Federal judge finds BOP has “made poor progress in transferring” vulnerable inmates out of federal prison COVID hotspot
- Feds asking SCOTUS to stay judicial order to transfer vulnerable prisoners “out of Elkton through any means”
- SCOTUS, by 6-3 vote, refuses to stay original federal judicial order to transfer vulnerable prisoners “out of Elkton through any means”
UPDATE: Amy Howe has this lengthy and effective posting at SCOTUSblog about the Elkton litigation and the stay granted by Justice Sotomayor.