A federal judge on Sunday said his decision that Obamacare is unconstitutional should be put on ice pending an appeal to higher courts.

U.S. District Court Judge Reed O’Connor, presiding in Texas, said he stands by his belief that Congress’ decision to gut the “individual mandate” penalty for shirking insurance renders the rest of the 2010 law invalid.

However, “because many everyday Americans would otherwise face great uncertainty during the pendency of appeal, the court finds that the December 14, 2018 order declaring the individual mandate unconstitutional and inseverable should be stayed,” Judge O’Connor, an appointee of President George W. Bush, wrote.

More than a dozen blue-state attorneys general had asked the judge to stay the ruling, which struck everything from Obamacare’s taxpayer-funded subsidies for private health plans to its expansion of Medicaid and provisions ordering insurers to cover people with preexisting medical conditions.