A federal judge has ruled that a Judeo-Christian law firm's case can move forward against two Michigan officials who are targeting it as a hate group.

Last February, the Michigan-based American Freedom Law Center (AFLC) filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against state Attorney General Dana Nessel, Michigan Department of Civil Rights Director Agustin V. Arbulu, and their policy directive to unlawfully target groups the radical Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has labeled "hate" groups.

On Wednesday, federal Judge Paul Maloney of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan denied the plaintiffs' motion to dismiss the case.

"At a minimum, this is a loud shot across the bow of the Michigan attorney general, who is a left-wing progressive, that so long as she seeks to weaponize her office, she'll be challenged in court, and the judges aren't going to look too favorably on these types of actions," comments Robert Muise, co-founder and senior counsel of the American Freedom Law Center.

He has no doubt that other government officials throughout the country will keep an eye on this case as it moves forward.

"Our warning to them is the same: If you're going to side with this left-wing radical political partisan and use this organization as a basis to establish policy, then you're going to find yourself in federal court defending against civil rights lawsuits, because this is a violation of our civil rights protected by the Constitution," Muise asserts.

While his organization is pleased to win this first round, Muise realizes it could take three to five years of litigation to completely resolve the case.