A three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 to block a Texas immigration law hours after the Supreme Court refused to intervene.
The judges did not provide a reason for their ruling.
Senate Bill 4 allows state law enforcement to arrest and detain illegal immigrants who cross the border outside of legal ports of entry.
The Supreme Court, with a vote of 4-3, decided to vacate the stay and return the lawsuit to the lower courts.
“Merits briefing on Texas’s challenge to the District Court’s injunction of S.B. 4 is currently underway,” wrote the justices. “If a decision does not issue soon, the applicants may return to this Court.”
The panel will hear Texas’s arguments on Wednesday morning and will decide whether to allow the law to go into effect as litigation continues.
Circuit Judge Andrew Oldham dissented from the other two judges.
“A stay preserves the status quo while an appellate court reviews the lawfulness of that alteration,” wrote Oldham. “earlier today, the Supreme Court of the United States restored an administrative stay under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 8.”
Oldham said he “would leave that stay in place pending” the oral arguments on Wednesday.
No matter what happens, though, the Fifth Circuit will continue hearing arguments about the constitutionality of the law for the next few weeks.
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