The Trump Justice Department is continuing its predecessor’s legal arguments against lawsuits by red states against abortion pills by mail and a whistleblower’s case against the drugmaker Pfizer, creating two unexpected setbacks for causes championed by conservatives.
The Food and Drug Administration is at the center of both disputes.
Idaho, Missouri and Kansas argue the FDA’s deregulation of the abortion pill mifepristone violated those states’ abortion restrictions. Meanwhile, the clinical trial whistleblower Brook Jackson’s lawsuit alleges fraudulent data was used to grant emergency use authorization to Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.
The government first stayed out of the False Claims Act case filed four years ago by Jackson, who oversaw Pfizer’s outsourced Phase 3 trials in Texas, even though it had the power to dismiss because Jackson is a “relator” suing on the federal government’s behalf.
It then supported Pfizer’s motion to dismiss, arguing the FDA would have approved the vaccine even if 3% of data were fraudulent, as Jackson claims from her test sites.
The FDA unsuccessfully asked a court for 55 years to fully release its Pfizer vaccine approval documents. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention admitted three years ago hiding the vast majority of its COVID data in part to protect the reputation of vaccines.
“We’re simply asking DOJ to step aside and let us handle Pfizer,” Jackson wrote on X in explaining the Trump DOJ’s continuation of its predecessor’s posture. “We don’t need their help—we just need them out of the way.”
Hellbound and Down 