Judge Dismisses Wheaton College's Obama Lawsuit

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Wheaton College against the Obama administration for requiring religious institutions to offer health insurance to employees that covers the cost of contraception.

U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle ruled Monday the lawsuit was premature because the government would not enforce the mandate against Wheaton until August 2013. She also noted the administration's promise to revise the mandate to accommodate some religious institutions before it goes into effect.

Huvelle, sitting in Washington, wrote the college was tilting at windmills for claiming "it will not be satisfied with whatever amendments defendants ultimately make."

Attorney Kyle Duncan of The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, said in a statement released by the college that the court shouldn't trust the government's promise to revise the law.

The evangelical suburban liberal arts college said in July the Health and Human Services mandate violates "deeply held religious beliefs."

“Wheaton College and other distinctively Christian institutions are faced with a clear and present threat to our religious liberty,” college president Dr. Philip Ryken said in a statement. “Our first president, the abolitionist Jonathan Blanchard, believed it was imperative to act in defense of freedom. In bringing this suit, we act in defense of freedom again.”