Federal Practice Manual for Legal Aid Attorneys: 6.4.2 “Sliding Scale” Approach to the Preliminary Injunction Factors
Prior to Winter, the circuits employed, to varying degrees, a “sliding scale” approach to balancing the preliminary injunction factors, whereby a stronger showing on certain factors could be balanced against a lesser showing on some other factor in determining whether preliminary relief should be granted.2839 As noted above, Winter overruled the Ninth Circuit’s application of the standard that allowed plaintiffs who demonstrated a strong likelihood of prevailing on the merits to receive a preliminary injunction based only