The Mississippi attorney general is fighting a federal judge’s decision to block the state law that bans diversity, equity and inclusion programs in Mississippi public schools and universities. 

State Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s office filed a notice of appeal on Tuesday against the preliminary injunction granted by U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate in August. The injunction prevented the law from being enforced until there’s a final decision in the lawsuit. 

Now, the case will go before a three-judge panel on the conservative 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. 

The attorney general’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“I don’t know why the state’s educational authorities would want to try and resurrect these ridiculous provisions which would create chaos in the schools and give our students a thoroughly substandard education,” said Rob McDuff, a Mississippi Center for Justice attorney and one of the lead lawyers representing the plaintiffs. 

“Hopefully, their appeal will fail and sanity will prevail,” he added.

McDuff said the preliminary injunction, in the interim, will stand unless and until the 5th Circuit reverses it. 

Over the past few months, attorneys for the plaintiffs have argued that House Bill 1193, passed by the Legislature this year following a wave of similar bills across the country, is unconstitutional. They said it violates the First and Fourteenth amendments by banning classroom discussions about race, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation. The attorneys have said that would include books and discussions about the Civil War, women’s rights and slavery — topics that define the country’s history. 

But the state’s attorneys said that the plaintiffs were reading the statute in bad faith, and that public employees do not have First Amendment rights in the workplace. 

It’s unclear what the timeline will be for the New Orleans-based appellate court to consider the appeal, but it will likely issue a schedule in the coming weeks for the parties to file legal briefs.