LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California law that bans people from carrying firearms in most public places will take effect on New Year’s Day, even as a court case continues to challenge the law.

A U.S. district judge issued a ruling Dec. 20 to block the law from taking effect, saying it violates the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and deprives people of their ability to defend themselves and their loved ones.

But on Saturday, a federal appeals court put a temporary hold on the district judge’s ruling. The appeals court decision allows the law to go into effect as the legal fight continues. Attorneys are scheduled to file arguments to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in January and in February.

The law, signed by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, prohibits people from carrying concealed guns in 26 places including public parks and playgrounds, churches, banks and zoos.

The ban applies regardless of whether the person has a permit to carry a concealed weapon. One exception is for privately owned businesses that put up signs saying people are allowed to bring guns on their premises.

“This ruling will allow our common-sense gun laws to remain in place while we appeal the district court’s dangerous ruling,” Newsom posted to X, formerly Twitter, after the appeals court acted Saturday. “Californians overwhelmingly support efforts to ensure that places like hospitals, libraries and children’s playgrounds remain safe and free from guns.”

The California Rifle and Pistol Association sued to block the law. When U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney granted a preliminary injunction blocking the law, he wrote that the law was “sweeping, repugnant to the Second Amendment, and openly defiant of the Supreme Court.”

Carney wrote that gun rights groups are likely to succeed in proving it unconstitutional, meaning it would be permanently overturned.

The law overhauls California’s rules for concealed carry permits in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, which set several states scrambling to react with their own laws. That decision said the constitutionality of gun laws must be assessed by whether they are “consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.”

Newsom has said he will keep pushing for stricter gun measures.

Newsom has positioned himself as a national leader on gun control while he is being increasingly eyed as a potential presidential candidate. He has called for and signed a variety of bills, including measures targeting untraceable “ghost guns,” the marketing of firearms to children and allowing people to bring lawsuits over gun violence. That legislation was patterned on a Texas anti-abortion law.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta appealed Carney’s decision. Bonta, a Democrat, said that if the district judge’s ruling to block the law were allowed to stand, it “would endanger communities by allowing guns in places where families and children gather.”

The California Pistol and Rifle Association’s president, Chuck Michel, said in a statement that under the law, gun permit holders “wouldn’t be able to drive across town without passing through a prohibited area and breaking the law.” Michel said criminals are deterred when law-abiding citizens can defend themselves.

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NEW YORK (AP) — A New York judge found former President Donald Trump in contempt of court and set in motion $10,000 daily fines Monday for failing to adequately respond to a subpoena issued by the state’s attorney general as part of a civil investigation into his business dealings.

Judge Arthur Engoron said a contempt finding was appropriate because Trump and his lawyers hadn’t shown they had conducted a proper search for records sought by the subpoena.

“Mr. Trump, I know you take your business seriously, and I take mine seriously,” Engoron said in a Manhattan courtroom that was packed with reporters, but absent of Trump. “I hereby hold you in civil contempt and fine you $10,000 a day” until the terms of the subpoena are met.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, had asked the court to hold Trump in contempt after he failed to produce any documents to satisfy a March 31 court-imposed deadline to meet the terms of the subpoena.

Trump, a Republican, has been fighting James in court over her investigation, which he has called a politically motivated “witch hunt.” During oral arguments Monday, Trump attorney Alina Habba said that “Donald Trump does not believe he is above the law.”

Habba said in a statement that the ruling will be appealed.

“We respectfully disagree with the court’s decision. All documents responsive to the subpoena were produced to the attorney general months ago,” she said.

James has been conducting a lengthy investigation into the Trump Organization, the former president’s family company, centering around what she has claimed is a pattern of misleading banks and tax authorities about the value of his properties.

“Today, justice prevailed,” James said in a release after Engoron’s ruling. “For years, Donald Trump has tried to evade the law and stop our lawful investigation into him and his company’s financial dealings. Today’s ruling makes clear: No one is above the law.”

The contempt finding by the judge came despite a spirited argument by Habba, who insisted repeatedly that she went to great lengths to comply with the subpoena, even traveling to Florida to ask Trump specifically whether he had in his possession any documents that would be responsive to the demand.

The judge, though, criticized the lack of detailed explanation in the Trump team’s formal response to the subpoena, telling Habba: “You can’t just stand here and say I searched this and that.”

And after saying he felt “like there’s an 800-pound gorilla in the room here,” he asked why the response to the subpoena didn’t include an affidavit from Trump.

Habba noted that Trump does not send emails or text messages and has no work computer “at home or anywhere else.” She described the search for documents as “diligent.”

“The contempt motion is inappropriate and misleading,” she said. “He complied. … There are no more documents left to produce by President Trump.”

She also derided the James probe as a “political crusade” and “truly a fishing expedition,” saying Trump and his companies had turned over more than 6 million documents and paperwork related to 103 Trump entities for an eight-year period.

“We’ve turned over everything as fast as possible. This is a waste of judicial resources,” Habba added.

She also defended Trump’s character, saying: “My client is an honest person much to the dismay of certain people in this room.”

Trump spokespeople did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Investigators for James have said in court filings that they uncovered evidence that Trump may have misstated the value of assets like golf courses and skyscrapers on his financial statements for more than a decade.

At the hearing, Assistant Attorney General Andrew Amer said the investigation was being hampered “because we don’t have evidence from the person at the top of this organization.”

And he said the failure to turn documents over in response to the subpoena was “effectively Mr. Trump thumbing his nose at this court’s order.”

Still, Assistant Attorney General Kevin Wallace signaled the probe was about to move to a new phase, saying: “We plan to bring enforcement action in the near future.”

A parallel criminal investigation is being conducted by the Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, also a Democrat.

Monday’s contempt finding was not the first for someone who has held the nation’s highest office.

While in the White House, then-President Bill Clinton was found in civil contempt of court in April 1999 in connection to his deposition in a sexual harassment lawsuit filed against him in Arkansas by Paula Jones.

Judge Susan Webber Wright held him in contempt for his testimony, where he falsely said he hadn’t had a sexual relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. That contempt citation came two months after his acquittal in Congress on articles of impeachment over his testimony.

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