A new lawsuit filed in federal court shows just what adoptive children are up against in the partisan war of political correctness and anti-religious bigotry. In Buck v. Gordon, a complaint filed in federal court in Michigan on Monday shows that in order to get relief and the care they need, foster families sued the state of Michigan and the federal Department of Health and Human Services so faith-based adoption agencies could continue to unite children with loving families.

Through the lawsuit, the adoptive families hope an injunction will be granted to faith-based agencies such as St. Vincent Catholic Charities, which will be shut down unless it connects children with heterosexual and homosexual couples — the latter is something that does not align with St. Vincent’s Catholic beliefs.

Melissa Buck, a mother of five children with special needs, adopted through St. Vincent. In a statement, she voiced the importance of this program continuing: “My five children have a home and a future today thanks to St. Vincent, and my husband and I still rely on St. Vincent’s vital support in every step of our journey together as a family. We are hopeful that the courts will step in, do the right thing and allow faith-based agencies to continue to help vulnerable families like mine.”

The ACLU shut this down before

Adoptive families have the American Civil Liberties Union to thank for the need to file a lawsuit to ensure they can adopt through religious adoption agencies. According to Michigan state law, the only way children can get adopted is through the state’s cooperation with adoption agencies of all kinds. St. Vincent and other adoption agencies cannot operate unless they do so through the state. Ironically, in 2015 Michigan lawmakers passed a provision that protected religious adoption agencies for refusing adoptions with LGBTQ couples, since it stemmed from deeply rooted religious beliefs.

However, in 2017, the ACLU sued the state of Michigan, noting that the state often worked with faith-based agencies that precluded gay couples from adopting children — not because the organizations are bigoted, but because they adhere to standard Judeo-Christian principles. Several faith-based adoption agencies, including St. Vincent, intervened in this lawsuit to protect themselves. However, it didn’t go far. The attorney general of Michigan and the ACLU simply settled the matter out of court. The settlement saved precious resources and time, no doubt, but it precluded St. Vincent and frankly didn’t really settle the issue at hand. Additionally, there was no final court judgment to guide future instances.

In fact, the state essentially caved to the ACLU and agreed they would either require St. Vincent to offer adoptions to all couples or shutter their doors. ( We covered that settlement and similar faith-based adoption lawsuits here .) On a press call, Nick Reaves, attorney at the Becket Fund, which represents the Buck family and St. Vincent, explained to me that “the only option St. Vincent had to protect its religious beliefs was to file this lawsuit.”

Michigan’s attorney general is actively targeting Catholics

In an opinion piece in the Detroit News, Ingrid Jacques explained precisely why it looks like the original lawsuit the ACLU filed is not organic, but calculated, and the settlement between Michigan and the ACLU isn’t an attempt to level the adoption playing field or even defend gay couples from discrimination, but rather it's a determined effort to target Catholics for their faith.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel “once referred to Catholic adoption agencies — and their supporters — as ‘ hate mongers .’” She not only gladly settled with the ACLU, which essentially forces Catholic agencies to act against their beliefs or fold, but she also spends her time in office picking on respected judges, particularly Michael Talbot, because he is Catholic.

Nessel spent considerable effort trying to smear the Catholic judge over a complaint he made, and a grievance filed against him in light of that complaint, but was quickly dismissed. Still, Nessel made sure to wage war against the judge to the point that state Rep. Beau LaFave, a Republican and Catholic, said if she kept it up he would draft “articles of impeachment” against her.

Needless to say, Nessel is not a friend to Catholics, and she’s using her high position as Michigan attorney general not to remain fair and impartial, but to vilify religious people working for the state and religious adoption agencies simply trying to do their jobs.

Glimpse of the future

The fact that adoptive families and faith-based agencies had to file this lawsuit at all to protect themselves, when First Amendment rights and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act have more than enough authority to protect them, shows how far anti-religious bigots will go to squelch faith-based families and adoption agencies. The future of the welfare of adoptive children will look bleak if this continues.

Bear in mind: This isn’t about turning away gay couples. In fact, no gay couples to date have been turned down or left wanting when they appeared ready to adopt a child through the state of Michigan at one of the many agencies available to do so. This is about a state government, particularly its bigoted attorney general, being so partisan yet so full of her own bigoted virtue, that she would shut down faith-based adoption agencies, thereby sacrificing the well-being of hundreds of children who need to be adopted annually, for an anti-Catholic scheme disguised as promoting equality.

When children are at stake, state policies, agreements, settlements, and lawsuits should err on the side of the children's well-being, not political posturing, correctness, or religious bigotry.

Nicole Russell (@russell_nm) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner's Beltway Confidential blog. She is a journalist who previously worked in Republican politics in Minnesota.