[JURIST] Lawyers for the US Justice Department on Tuesday urged a federal judge to dismiss Connecticut's lawsuit challenging the No Child Left Behind Act [PDF text], arguing that the state understood the law's requirements when officials accepted federal education funding and therefore cannot avoid obligations under the law. Connecticut filed the lawsuit [PDF complaint; JURIST report] in August 2005, alleging that the law is an unconstitutional unfunded federal mandate. The DOJ also argued Tuesday that Connecticut brought suit prematurely before exhausting administrative remedies within the Department of Education. US District Judge Mark Kravitz, who did not immediately rule on whether to dismiss the lawsuit, expressed concern that a ruling in favor of Connecticut would allow other states to choose select portions of the federal law to follow. AP has more.