GRAND RAPIDS (AP) — Federal Judge Robert Jonker on Tuesday denied Michigan’s request to halt his preliminary injunction that preserved a Catholic adoption agency’s ability to refuse to place state wards with LGBT couples.

The stay had been sought by state Attorney General Dana Nessel and the state Department of Health and Human Services, while the case is appealed.

Jonker says state attorneys “offered nothing new” and “failed to come to grips” with the factual basis supporting an inference that Nessel engaged in “religious targeting.” Nessel has denied hostility toward faith-based agencies that contract with the state.