A Tallahassee judge gave Florida officials more time to present their defense of a 2-year-old law requiring women to wait 24 hours before receiving an abortion, but seemed skeptical that the state would convince him to keep the law on the books.

Leon County Circuit Judge Terry Lewis gave Deputy Solicitor General Denise Harle 60 days to make her case on behalf of the state, after chastising her for failing to gather the evidence she says she needs in the two years since the legal challenges began, and more than five months after the Florida Supreme Court put the law on hold for a second time in February.

“If I were in your shoes, I think I would have been ready a long time ago,” Lewis said during an hourlong hearing Wednesday. “On the other hand, I think it's very important that, whatever happens here, there is a complete record.”