The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the Biden administration’s attempt to carve out emergency exceptions to Texas’ strict abortion law.

The Department of Health and Human Services had argued that a federal law governing emergency care trumped state law, requiring hospitals to perform abortions in cases where a mother’s life or serious health consequences were at stake.

Texas argued that the feds had cut too many corners in rushing to issue the policy. A lower appeals court sided with Texas and the Supreme Court, in a brief order Monday, allowed that decision to stand.

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No justice commented on the decision.

Monday kicked off the Supreme Court’s new term, with the justices disposing of a series of cases that had gathered over the summer.

They kicked several gun rights cases back to lower courts, directing the judges to re-decide issues based on a significant Second Amendment case the Supreme Court issued earlier this summer.

The justices also returned to a lower court a case involving the federal sex offender registry law. The justices told the lower court to give the case a new look in light of this summer’s major case limiting the deference judges are supposed to show to the federal bureaucracy.

In Texas, the abortion case grew out of the Biden administration’s attempt to revive some national abortion rights standards after the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

After that ruling two years ago, HHS issued a directive telling hospitals that take federal money that the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, which sets health care standards for hospitals, requires them to perform abortions in emergency situations even where state law would forbid it.

Texas sued over the directive, saying it went beyond what EMTALA required. The state also said the feds skipped over a required notice-and-comment period before issuing the guidance.

A trial court and later the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Texas.

The result was that Texas is not covered by the HHS directive.

The Texas case is the second involving HHS’ EMTALA guidance to reach the justices.

In their previous term they took a case from Montana, which was clashing with the Biden administration over its abortion restrictions. But after hearing oral argument the justices bowed out of the case, saying they had been too hasty and wanted to see it develop more in the lower courts.