Paxton told the appeals court that the Justice Department has no legal authority to sue the state and said the appeals court must intervene immediately to lift the injunction. The lower-court judge overstepped, Paxton said, by halting a law that is enforced by private citizens, not state government officials.

“A court ‘cannot lawfully enjoin the world at large’ let alone hold Texas responsible for the filings of private citizens that Texas is powerless to prevent,” the filing states.

It asked the court to rule on that issue by Tuesday morning and to temporarily suspend Pitman’s injunction “as soon as possible.”

The brief order from the 5th Circuit, issued about five hours after the appeal was filed, did not rule on the merits of the state’s request.