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Despite acknowledging the noble intentions behind the request, a Quebec Superior Court judge rejected a bid Thursday from two civil rights groups seeking to have the most controversial elements of Quebec’s new secularism law suspended.

In a 32-page decision, Quebec Superior Court Judge Michel Yergeau ruled that any law is presumed to have been “presented, debated and validly adopted” in the public interest and for the common good.

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The court then deciding to overrule parts of it, he added, would be an exceptional measure and doing so in the name of individual interests “demands to be decided on merit and not on a preliminary basis.”

The two groups behind the request, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and National Council of Canadian Muslims, filed a legal challenge to the law the day after it passed, arguing it’s unconstitutional.

At the same time, they asked the court to consider granting an injunction that would suspend two sections of the law while waiting to debate the larger issues at play. Yergeau rejected the request to stay the sections on Thursday.