The telescope board is scheduled to meet again in February but could convene earlier.

In a statement, officials at the University of Hawaii, which held the permit and leased the land to the telescope project, said the university was reviewing the court decision and “continues to believe that Mauna Kea is a precious resource where science and culture can synergistically coexist.”

A similar thing happened 10 years ago, when a permit was rescinded for a pair of “outrigger” telescopes that had been proposed to accompany the huge twin telescopes of the W. M. Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea. The withdrawal of the permit was a result of lawsuits brought by the same group. The outriggers were never built.

Many of the litigants learned of the ruling on Wednesday as they were gathering for lunch with a reporter in Hilo, and they immediately erupted in hugs and high-fives.

Ms. Pisciotta, a former telescope operator on Mauna Kea, said the group had been rankled by descriptions in the news media of the telescope opponents as superstitious natives battling science. “This is a very simple case about land use,” she said. “It’s not science versus religion. We’re not the church. You’re not Galileo.”

There are presently 13 telescopes on the mountain. In May, Gov. David Ige announced that construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope could go on, but called for the removal of at least three of the existing telescopes.

Soon after, however, protesters again prevented construction crews from going to the summit, and several were arrested. The telescope group said it would stand down until further notice. In return for an agreement that they be notified when construction was about to start again, the protesters abandoned an encampment at the Mauna Kea visitors center.