The Texas Supreme Court cleared the way Thursday for school districts to require people to wear masks in classrooms — at least for now.

For cities, counties and school districts that have defied Gov. Greg Abbott by issuing mask mandates in public schools, the Thursday ruling is a victory on a technicality: The high court left in place a Travis County judge’s temporary restraining orders against Abbott’s ban on mask mandates. The court’s order cited a provision that typically requires matters to go to an appellate court before it reaches the state’s highest civil court.

Paxton asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to overturn a series of temporary restraining orders issued by state District Judge Jan Soifer that allowed Harris County and eight school districts to mandate masks in public schools. Soifer also ruled that Abbott could not enforce his executive order banning mask mandates “against Texas independent school districts.”