AVE MARIA, Fla. – Tuesday morning, a federal court granted injunctive relief to Ave Maria University following the University’s renewed lawsuit against the HHS mandate filed in August.  In a message to the University community, President Jim Towey noted the significance of the victory.

The order from the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida is the first “enjoining the government’s latest attempt to coerce religious organizations via an ‘augmented rule’ that it issued last August,” stated the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.

President Towey said on his blog:

I have wonderful news to share with you! Ave Maria University won in Federal Court on its motion for injunctive relief. This is a significant victory because it is the first Federal Court case since the United States Supreme Court decision in the Hobby Lobby case and the subsequent issuance of the so-called “augmented” regulations by the Obama administration. 

While this victory is significant the battle is far from over. Judge Moody has stayed action on our case pending a resolution of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals case in the EWTN lawsuit. 

You can click here to see the judge’s order which I think you will find interesting.

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“The government has been retreating since it first issued the Mandate three years ago,” Eric Baxter of the Becket Fund said in a press release. “Now it’s time for the government to stop going after religious colleges and ministries and start respecting religious liberty.”

“We congratulate Ave Maria for its courage, even under the threat of crippling fines,” Baxter reportedly said. “After dozens of court rulings, the government still doesn’t seem to get that it can’t force faith institutions to violate their beliefs,” he continued. “Fortunately, the courts continue to see through the government’s attempts to disguise the Mandate’s religious coercion.”

Ave Maria University is recommended in The Newman Guide for its strong Catholic identity.

Yesterday, The Cardinal Newman Society was joined by the leaders of several Catholic universities in telling the Obama administration that the HHS mandate still “directly violates the religious liberty of organizations and individuals.”

Authored by Kathryn Zagrobelny
Originally published here by Catholic Education Daily, an online publication of The Cardinal Newman Society

Published with permission