Judge Robert J. Shelby’s Dec. 20 ruling striking down Utah’s ban on same-sex marriage may yet be reinstated, and the Supreme Court’s brief order on Monday said only that Judge Shelby’s decision was stayed “pending final disposition of the appeal” to the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, in Denver.

But a final resolution of the case will take time. The appeals court, has set a briefing schedule that concludes in late February, presumably to be followed by arguments before a three-judge panel of the court. Further appeals, to the full court and the Supreme Court, are likely.

For now, with Judge Shelby’s ruling stayed, social conservatives called on the state to set the recent marriages aside, saying they never should have been granted in the first place. Sean D. Reyes, Utah’s newly appointed attorney general, told reporters on Monday that he was “carefully evaluating the legal status” of those unions.

“There is not clear legal precedence for this particular situation,” Mr. Reyes said in a statement. “This is the uncertainty that we were trying to avoid by asking the district court for a stay immediately after its decision. It is very unfortunate that so many Utah citizens have been put into this legal limbo.”

Judge Shelby sits on the Federal District Court in Salt Lake City. His decision had made Utah the 18th state, along with the District of Columbia, to allow same-sex marriages. The Supreme Court’s order, from the full court, offered no reasoning or hints about where the justices now stand on the momentous question of whether there is a constitutional right to same-sex marriage. It did, however, at least temporarily halt the rapid expansion of same-sex marriage across the nation.