The U.S. Supreme Court dismissed a case in June filed by the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine challenging the FDA’s regulation of an abortion drug. In his concurrence, Justice Clarence Thomas took specific aim at a long-standing legal doctrine. The implication of those comments are being felt in the lower courts, according to Akerman Healthcare Litigation Team Co-Leader Noam Fischman.

“What we’re seeing now is the gradual degradation of associational standing with voices like Justice Thomas’s,” Fischman told Bloomberg in an article published this week.

Associational standing is the legal concept that groups like a chamber of commerce or medical association can file a lawsuit on behalf of its membership, even if the group itself has not been injured. Some argue the doctrine has been abused, allowing plaintiffs to venue shop by joining associations in court districts they seemingly have no significant connection to, only to have that association file suit on their behalf.