A federal appeals court in Chicago put a temporary stay on lower court decisions that struck down gay marriage bans in Indiana and Wisconsin until the Supreme Court decides whether it will weigh in on the constitutionality of same-sex marriage in an appeal.

On Monday, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals delayed its decision to overturn gay marriage bans in Indiana and Wisconsin earlier this month in order to give allow an appeal to the Supreme Court, reports The Hill.

If the high court denies the appeal, the stay would "terminate automatically," states the order, according to The Courant.

Wisconsin did not need a stay because a federal judge had already put her decision striking the ban down on hold. However, the two states asked the Supreme Court to recognized this as a combined case and make a final decision about the legalization of gay marriage in all 50 states.

The Supreme Court Justices will decide whether to take up the issue on Sept. 29 during a closed-door conference.

Back on Sept. 4, the federal appeals court upheld two lower court decisions that declared that state bans on same-sex marriage in Indiana and Wisconsin are unconstitutional.

Speaking on behalf of the court, U.S. District Judge Richard Posner wrote that the gay marriage bans in Indiana and Wisconsin threaten "the welfare of American children," reports USA Today.

He added that Indiana and Wisconsin "have given us no reason to think they have a 'reasonable basis' for forbidding same-sex marriage."

"The challenged laws discriminate against a minority defined by an immutable characteristic, and the only rationale that the states put forth with any conviction -- that same-sex couples and their children don't need marriage because same-sex couples can't produce children, intended or unintended -- is so full of holes that it cannot be taken seriously," wrote the judge, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, reports the Washington Post.

"To the extent that children are better off in families in which the parents are married, they are better off whether they are raised by their biological parents or by adoptive parents," Posner wrote, the Chicago Tribune reports. "The discrimination against same-sex couples is irrational, and therefore unconstitutional."