TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt has obtained a court order that prevents the judiciary from having its funding cut off through mid-March.

Schmidt’s office filed a petition Tuesday in Neosho County District Court to block enforcement of a law enacted earlier this year by legislators. The law tied the judicial branch’s entire budget to a change in how chief judges of district courts are selected.

Neosho County District Judge Daryl Ahlquist granted Schmidt’s request, preventing enforcement of the law until March 15. The Legislature reconvenes in January.

The same law is being challenged in a separate lawsuit in Shawnee County District Court by four district judges.

Under an earlier policy enacted last year by legislators, local judges pick their chief justices, stripping the Kansas Supreme Court of the decisions.