By CASEY SMITH 

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Monday that the state temporarily continue payment of federal unemployment benefits, affirming an earlier court order that Indiana must restart the extra $300 weekly payments to unemployed workers.

Chief judge Cale Bradford denied a request from the state government to issue a stay on a Marion County judge's order that Indiana must resume participation in the federal government's programs that unemployment benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The state government could next call on the Indiana Supreme Court to consider the preliminary injunction.

Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb, who has pushed to drop the state from the federal programs before they're scheduled to end on Sept. 6, did not immediately comment Monday on the ruling.