The U.S. Supreme Court has refused, for now, to reimpose FDA regulations that require women seeking medication abortion to pick up the prescribed pills in person at a clinic instead of by mail.

The court’s decision came Thursday night on a 6-to-2 vote that rejected an emergency appeal from the Trump administration.

The challenge to the FDA regulation was brought by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists after the the agency relaxed similar regulations for other drugs–including opioids–in order to limit patients’ exposure to Covid-19 during the pandemic, but refused to relax the same rule for those with prescriptions for abortions with pills in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy.

Federal Judge Theodore Chuang in Maryland ruled in favor of ACOG, declaring that requiring such in-person pick-ups of pills during a pandemic posed “a substantial obstacle to women seeking an abortion.” The Supreme Court has long ruled that such substantial obstacles unconstitutionally interfere with a woman’s right to terminate a pregnancy.

On Thursday night, the Supreme Court turned down the Trump administration’s attempt to block the lower court order. But the decision was more of a punt, than a long-lasting decree.

The high court said it would hold the Trump administration’s request “in obeyance” to permit the district court judge to promptly consider other efforts by the administration to “dissolve, modify, or stay” its previous order if “relevant circumstances have changed.” And the justices said that their decision did not indicate their views on the merits of the case should it come to them again.

The language of the one-paragraph order seemed to suggest that the court was simply unwilling to make any decision in an abortion case two weeks after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died, and just days before the U.S. Senate is scheduled to take up the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett as Ginsburg’s replacement.

“It is a relief that for the next few weeks the Trump administration cannot force abortion patients to needlessly risk contracting a life-threatening disease as a condition of obtaining care,” said Julia Kaye, lead counsel for ACOG in the case. But, she added, “When President Trump is trying to rush through a third Supreme Court justice with the express goal of overturning Roe v. Wade, the court’s delayed ruling in this case gives little comfort that the right to abortion is secure.”

Dissenting from Thursday night’s decision were Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas. Writing for the two, Alito said that “for all practical purposes there is little difference between what the court has done and an express denial” of the Trump administration’s emergency motion to block the lower court order.

Alito went on to blast his colleagues for other actions it has taken during the pandemic in upholding bans on large church gatherings, decisions that he characterized as “unimaginable restraints” on the “free exercise of religion.”

Democrats on Thursday made it clear they felt President Trump was at least in part to blame for an alleged scheme to kidnap the governor of Michigan, citing the president’s divisive rhetoric that has often found support among white supremacists and other hate groups.

The FBI said it had foiled a plot by militia members to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, and take her to a secure location in Wisconsin for “trial.” Six men have been arrested and are facing federal charges. In a coordinated move, seven more people with ties to a far-right militia group are facing state charges in Michigan pursuant to the state’s anti-terrorism act.

In a Thursday press conference, Whitmer thanked law enforcement for their efforts to bring “these sick and depraved men to justice.” She also pointed to language by the president, particularly Trump’s recent refusals to condemn white supremacists, as inciting this sort of political violence.

“Just last week, the president of the United States stood before the American people and refused to condemn white supremacists and hate groups, like these two Michigan militia groups. ‘Stand back and stand by,’ he told them. ‘Stand back and stand by.’ Hate groups heard the president’s words not as a rebuke but as a rallying cry, as a call to action,” she said.

Whitmer was referring to one of Trump’s responses in the Sept. 29 presidential debate in which he declined to condemn white supremacy. After days of criticism, he did condemn white supremacist groups in a TV interview.

There was not any evidence that those involved in the alleged kidnapping plot were motivated by Trump, but Whitmer accused the president of legitimizing the actions of violent hate groups through his rhetoric.

“When our leader speaks, their words matter. They carry weight. When our leaders meet with, encourage, or fraternize with domestic terrorists, they legitimize their actions, and they are complicit. When they stoke and contribute to hate speech, they are complicit.”

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Thursday accused Whitmer of “sowing division” in her remarks.

“President Trump has continually condemned white supremacists and all forms of hate. Gov. Whitmer is sowing division by making these outlandish allegations. America stands united against hate and in support of our federal law enforcement who stopped this plot,” McEnany said.

Whitmer and Trump have been frequent critics of one another in recent months, sparring over the coronavirus crisis and how best to resolve it.

In April, protesters frustrated with Whitmer’s stay-at-home order, some armed, entered the state Senate gallery and tried to access the House chambers.

The next day, Trump said Whitmer should “give a little” and that the protesters “are very good people, but they are angry.”

Earlier in the month, he tweeted “LIBERATE MICHIGAN,” along with other states — an apparent opposition to governors’ stay-at-home orders.

Former Vice President Joe Biden, who hopes to unseat Trump in the Nov. 3 general election, also sought to connect the president’s rhetoric to domestic terrorism.

“White supremacists and these militias are a genuine threat. I’ve got to compliment the FBI and the police agencies for what they did and how they stepped up. But look, the words of a president matter,” Biden said.

“They can cause a nation to have the market rise or fall, go to war or bring peace. But they can also breathe oxygen into those who are filled with hate and danger. And I just think it’s got to stop. The president has to realize the words he utters matter.”

Biden said both he and his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, had spoken to Whitmer about the incident.