The Supreme Court has temporarily blocked a sweeping settlement deal for OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma that would shield the Sackler family from civil lawsuits in exchange for paying out $6 billion to thousands of plaintiffs, including state and local governments, that have been devastated by the opioid epidemic. The Justice Department challenged the settlement, which extends bankruptcy protections against liability for Sackler family members, in what the U.S. solicitor general called an “abuse of the bankruptcy system.” Opioid overdoses have killed over half a million people in the U.S. over the past two decades, according to the CDC, including prescription and illicit drugs.