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AG seeks to halt adoption ruling, denies anti-Catholic bias

Posted at 3:17 PM, Oct 11, 2019
and last updated 2019-10-11 15:17:05-04

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is asking a federal judge to halt an injunction that lets religious-based adoption and foster care agencies refuse to serve LGBT couples.

The Democrat announced Friday that she filed an emergency motion for a stay Thursday.

She contends U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker in Grand Rapids, who ruled last month, misinterpreted a 2015 state law. She says the law allows child-placing agencies to turn away families in private cases based on their sincerely held religious beliefs, but not when they place state-supervised children.

Nessel says the injunction upended a non-discrimination policy that’s been in place several years.

Nessel also says the judge misconstrued and took out of context her past criticism of the Republican-enacted law. Her office says Jonker wrongly accused Nessel of being anti-Catholic.