“The Trump administration blocked Jane Doe from getting constitutionally protected care for a month and subjected her to illegal obstruction, coercion and shaming as she waited,” David Cole, the A.C.L.U.’s legal director, said at the time. “After the courts cleared the way for her to get her abortion, it was the A.C.L.U.’s job as her lawyers to see that she wasn’t delayed any further — not to give the government another chance to stand in her way.”

The appeals court, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, ruled in favor of the teenager, who was in government custody in Texas, on Oct. 24. According to the Justice Department’s brief, lawyers for the A.C.L.U. initially indicated that the abortion would take place on Oct. 26. On that understanding, the department’s brief said, it had planned to file an emergency application for a stay in the Supreme Court on Oct. 25.

Under Texas law, women must attend a counseling session at least 24 hours before having an abortion with the doctor who will perform the procedure. The teenager had attended such a session on Oct. 19, but the doctor she consulted was initially thought to be unavailable to perform the procedure.

Had a new doctor been required, the teenager would presumably have received counseling on Oct. 25 and obtained the abortion on Oct. 26. It turned out that the original doctor was available after all, and the teenager received the abortion early in the morning on Oct. 25.

In its brief, the Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to vacate the appeals court’s ruling, which the court did. It also asked the justices to consider punishing the A.C.L.U.’s lawyers.