As the result of a federal court ruling, the horse slaughter plant in DeKalb, Ill., will temporarily be able to resume business.

In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit May 1 granted Cavel International slaughterhouse’s emergency request for a stay while it is considering an appeal of a lower court’s order last month halting federal inspection of horses. That ruling shut down the slaughterhouse because it is not allowed to operate without federal inspectors on site.

The dissenting judge disagreed with the idea the slaughterhouse would go out of business without the stay, noting it successfully reopened two years after a fire.

Although the ruling will allow the plant to reopen for now, horse slaughter has been a controversial issue on both the state and federal level. The Illinois House of Representatives passed a bill April 18 that would outlaw horse slaughter for human consumption in the state. The bill passed 74-41, and is now in the Illinois Senate’s Public Health Committee