Supreme Court declines to pause order holding Apple in contempt in Epic Games lawsuit

The U.S. Supreme Court building on May 4, 2026 in Washington, DC. Andrew Harnik | The U.S. Supreme Court rejected on Wednesday Apple's request to temporarily block a judicial order that found the iPhone maker in violation of sweeping court-mandated changes to its lucrative App Store as part of an antitrust lawsuit by "Fortnite" maker Epic Games. Justice Elena Kagan, on behalf of the court, declined to pause a ruling by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that deemed Apple in contempt in the Epic lawsuit contesting App Store fees. Apple had sought the delay to give it time to file a full Supreme Court appeal of the 9th Circuit decision. Apple and Epic have clashed for years over the rules governing Apple's App Store. The contempt ruling and the scope of Apple's court-ordered obligations are the latest issues in the dispute to reach the Supreme Court. Apple has said the 9th Circuit decision would affect how millions of app purchases are made. Epic Games won the contempt order last year as part of litigation it brought in 2020 seeking to loosen Apple's control over transactions in applications that use the company's iOS operating system and its restrictions on how apps are distributed to consumers. Apple mostly defeated Epic's lawsuit, but was required in a 2021 court injunction to let developers include links in their apps directing users to non-Apple payment methods. …