No higher court paused the 9 October ruling in Common Cause v. Department of Justice by 3 November 2026: the government's stay request was still before the district court, which denied it on 2 November (Common Cause), and the Just Security litigation tracker (off-list) of 3 November lists no appeals court or Supreme Court stay; the court dockets could not be read directly.
History. 0 of 4: the fastest decision on a pause came after 41 days, and it was a refusal.
Hunch. The Supreme Court paused the same judge’s June ruling on 25 September, so it has already sided with the government in this fight.
The pause market resolves on the Supreme Court docket and the appeals court’s orders: YES if by the end of 3 November 2026 a higher court pauses the 9 October ruling until the appeal is decided, and NO if not. A short pause of a few days while a court considers the request does not count, and Reuters and The Guardian are the backup.
We looked for cases where a federal judge blocked a US government policy after a higher court had already paused an earlier ruling by that same judge. We found four since 2017, two under Donald Trump and two under Joe Biden. Each time the government asked a higher court to pause the new ruling.