A judicial stay is a court order temporarily halting a prior ruling, judgment, or legal proceeding while a case proceeds to an appellate court for review. Courts typically grant stays when the party seeking relief can show four factors: a likelihood of success on the merits of the appeal, a likelihood of irreparable harm without the stay, that the balance of harms favors the stay, and that the public interest supports it. In the White House ballroom case, the D.C. Circuit granted a stay of Judge Richard Leon's construction halt, allowing construction to continue temporarily while the court considered whether the district court applied the right legal standard. A stay is not a ruling on the merits — it does not decide who ultimately wins the case.