February 24 -- The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York issued an order finding that plaintiffs represented by the Center for Reproductive Rights made a strong preliminary showing of the FDA’s "bad faith or improper behavior" in denying over-the-counter status for the emergency contraceptive, Plan B. The Court therefore, denied the government's request for a protective order to block all discovery by the plaintiffs.

This decision means that the plaintiffs have passed a second obstacle to discovery erected by the Department of Justice. In addition to requiring the government to supply documents not previously disclosed, the magistrate judge allows the Center’s attorneys to take depositions (interviews under oath) of high level FDA officials such as former FDA Commissioners Mark McClellan and Lester Crawford.

In January, the federal judge presiding over the entire case denied the government's request to reconsider his December 22nd ruling lifting a stay on discovery. And during an oral argument in December, he questioned whether the agency was acting in good faith, commenting that the case had all the earmarks of an "administrative agency filibuster."