The US Supreme Court Thursday denied Texas abortion providers’ request to send their challenge to the nation’s most restrictive abortion law to the federal district court as was previously ordered, instead permitting it to languish in the Fifth Circuit where resolution will likely take several more months.

After the Supreme Court allowed a portion of the challenge to go forward last December, the case was remanded back to the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which had been directed to send it to district court “without delay” for further hearings on preliminary relief. On remand, Texas officials asked the Fifth Circuit to set a briefing schedule and allow the state Supreme Court to rule on whether they had the power to enforce the law, which Justice Sotomayor said was “Texas’ newest delay tactic.” Instead of following the Supreme Court’s directions, the Fifth Circuit granted the state’s request without delivering the case to district court.

Thursday’s decision centered on providers’ writ of mandamus seeking an order to require the Fifth Circuit to comply with the Supreme Court’s initial decision. The providers, Whole Womens’ Health, argued that they now lacked jurisdiction over the case because the Supreme Court “stood in the shoes of the Court of Appeals” and held that the case could continue past the motion-to-dismiss stage, placing it back within the district court’s control for further proceedings.

A majority of the justices, without comment, denied their request to send the case to district court. Justices Sotomayor, Breyer and Kagan dissented. Justice Breyer in his dissent wrote that the Fifth Circuit ignored the Supreme Court’s order to remand despite common practice and precedent dictating that “whatever was before the Court, and is disposed of, is considered as finally settled.”

Justice Sotomayor’s dissent said the state’s attempts to stall this case in the Fifth Circuit indicate that “Texas wagered that this Court did not mean what little it said” in allowing the narrow fraction of this case to proceed in district court. She concluded that today’s decision signals, “That bet has paid off.”

In a fiery closing, she stated, “This case is a disaster for the rule of law and a grave disservice to women in Texas, who have a right to control their own bodies. I will not stand by silently as a State continues to nullify this constitutional guarantee.”