The conservative federal judge who earlier this month ruled that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional has issued a stay of his own opinion, which means the law will remain in effect as the appeals process goes forward.

U.S. District Judge Reed OConnor, from Fort Worth, Texas, issued the stay Sunday evening and, to be clear, it does not mean he has reconsidered the case itself. On the contrary, OConnor in his order reaffirmed his belief that Obamacare must come off the books.

In the process, the judge implicitly answered the many critics who have said his decision is full of shoddy legal arguments and ultimately reaches the wrong conclusion .

But OConnor also acknowledged the potential for extreme chaos if his ruling went into effect in time for the 2019 plan year, which formally begins on Jan. 1. With the stay in place, the Affordable Care Acts many provisions, including its expansion of Medicaid and protections for people with pre-existing conditions, can continue as normal while the case moves through the federal court system.

The next stop on that journey is the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Many experts critical of OConnor have said they expect the appeals court to overturn his decision.

But the Fifth Circuit has some of the most notoriously and stridently conservative judges in the country, including five that President Donald Trump has appointed, and for that reason some experts say OConnors ruling could survive scrutiny at the circuit court level.

That would set up an eventual hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court, which has already heard two major lawsuits that sought to declare the 2010 health care law unconstitutional rejecting most of the first one and the entirety of the second.

In both cases, Chief Justice John Roberts voted with the courts four Democratic appointees and, in the more recent ruling , a second GOP appointee joined him although that second Republican was Anthony Kennedy, who has since been replaced by Brett Kavanaugh .