The US Supreme Court Monday stayed an order from the US District Court for the District of Columbia blocking Title 42, a health policy used to deny migrants and asylum-seekers at the US border. Chief Justice Roberts stayed the lower court ruling “pending further order of the undersigned or of the Court” and requested a response from the Biden Administration on or before Tuesday.

42 USC § 265 generally gives the Surgeon General powers to suspend the introduction of “persons and property” to the US if the Surgeon General finds there is a danger of communicable disease from a foreign country. In March 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued an interim rule to provide a procedure for the Center for Disease Control (CDC) to suspend the introduction of persons from designated countries or places, if required, in the interest of public health.

After the interim rule, the CDC Director issued an order suspending for 30 days the introduction of “covered aliens,” which the Director defined as “persons traveling from Canada or regardless of their country of origin.” The order declared, “It is necessary for the public health to immediately suspend the introduction of covered aliens” and to “require the movement of all such aliens to the country from which they entered the United States, or their country of origin, or another location as practicable, as rapidly as possible.”

In response to the orders, detained migrants who feel they would face grave danger in their countries of origin sued Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas. The plaintiffs argue that Title 42 does not authorize deportation. The American Civil Liberties Union, which represents the plaintiffs, called the policy a “violation of longstanding immigration statutes requiring that asylum seekers receive a full and fair proceeding to determine their right to protection in the United States. “

Last month, the district court found that the orders from the CDC and the HHS were arbitrary and capricious and not rationally related to their stated purpose. As a result, the court permanently enjoined the CDC and HHS from applying their Title 42 policies. 19 states filed an Emergency Application for Stay Pending Certiorari arguing that the Supreme Court should grant review because the ruling was erroneous and violated Supreme Court precedent.