BATON ROUGE - The First Circuit halted a judge's ruling that made LSU return Professor Ken Levy to class.

The Investigative Unit obtained the interim order that the stay was granted, which means that Levy will not be allowed back in class until the appeals court takes further action.

Levy was removed from teaching classes in January after comments he made during class against Governor Landry surfaced. A lawsuit says that Levy told students, "F*** the Governor" in response to a video posted by Landry, which showed a clip of Levy's Law School colleague Nicholas Bryner discussing the conduct of students who voted for Trump.

After his removal, attorneys for Levy sued the school, saying that he could not be removed from the classroom for political comments.

In a hearing Tuesday, 19th JDC Judge Tarvald Smith ruled that Levy must be allowed back in class. LSU filed an appeal Wednesday and the legal battle between Levy and LSU advanced to the First Circuit Court of Appeal, which decided Thursday to put a hold on Smith's ruling.