This story has been updated.
The Court of Appeals of Indiana rejected Attorney General Todd Rokita’s request for an expedited response on Indiana’s abortion ban this afternoon.
The near-total ban was blocked in a lower court ruling by Judge Kelsey Hanlon last week.
Rokita appealed Hanlon’s ruling Friday, filing an emergency motion with the appellate court on behalf of the Medical Licensing Board of Indiana.
Rokita and other lawyers wrote in their filing that the appellate court “should not further postpone the resolution of an issue of immense legal, political, and practical significance to the State and its people.”
The filing argued that only the Supreme Court could provide the final word on the case.
The decision to reject that argument was signed by Appellate Court Judge Cale Bradford. Three other judges concurred.
A previous version of this story said that if Rokita’s appeal had been approved, the case would have gone directly to the Indiana Supreme Court.
