Former state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver will get to remain a free man a little bit longer, thanks to a new ruling from a federal appeals panel.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit Thursday granted Silver's motion to petition for writ of certiorari before the U.S. Supreme Court.

In a statement, Silver's lawyers—Molo Lamken name attorney Steven Molo and Stroock & Stroock & Lavan of counsel Joel Cohen—said the decision by the panel of Circuit Judges José Cabranes and Richard Wesley, joined by U.S. District Judge William Sessions of the District of Vermont, who was sitting by designation, had “recognized the significance of the issues we will be raising before the Supreme Court.”