{"id":27190,"date":"2025-10-30T03:27:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T03:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/27190\/"},"modified":"2025-10-30T03:27:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T03:27:09","slug":"texas-judges-wont-face-sanctions-for-declining-gay-weddings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/27190\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas judges won\u2019t face sanctions for declining gay weddings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Texas judges who decline to perform a wedding ceremony based on a \u201csincerely held religious belief\u201d do not violate the state\u2019s rules on judicial impartiality, according to a comment the Texas Supreme Court added<\/a> to the state\u2019s judicial conduct code last week.<\/p>\n

The high court\u2019s comment on Oct. 24, effective immediately, could have statewide implications for gay marriage and potentially play a role in a federal lawsuit attempting<\/a> to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized gay marriage.<\/p>\n

The rule change appears to answer a question of state law that the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals posed to the Texas Supreme Court in April, which was prompted by a lawsuit<\/a> challenging the State Commission on Judicial Conduct\u2019s now-withdrawn sanction of a Waco judge<\/a> who refused to marry gay couples while continuing to marry straight couples. The plaintiff in that suit, a North Texas county judge, sued saying he was afraid he could face the same punishment.<\/p>\n

Texas Supreme Court clerk Blake Hawthorne said in an email to KERA News the court cannot comment on the rule change.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe order speaks for itself, and the Court cannot comment on its connection to pending litigation,\u201d Hawthorne said.<\/p>\n

The State Commission on Judicial Conduct declined to comment.<\/p>\n

The court\u2019s clarification amended Canon 4 of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct, which prohibits judges from doing things outside their judicial role that would cast doubt on their ability to act impartially or interfere with the proper performance of judicial duties.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the rule the commission accused Waco Justice of the Peace Dianne Hensley of violating when it issued a public warning<\/a> against her in 2019, saying her refusal to marry people based on their sexual orientation cast doubt on her ability to appear impartial as a judge.<\/p>\n

When the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Obergefell v. Hodges legalized gay marriage nationally in 2015, it required judges and justices of the peace \u2014 who in Texas are allowed but aren\u2019t required to officiate weddings \u2014 to either officiate both gay and straight marriages or none at all. Hensley, citing her Christian beliefs, chose not to officiate any weddings following the U.S. Supreme Court decision.<\/p>\n

She then decided<\/a> to begin performing weddings again in 2016 \u2014 but only for straight couples. She referred same-sex couples to a different judge and other nearby officiants, according to her court filings.<\/p>\n

The justice of the peace told the Waco Tribune-Herald<\/a> about that decision in a 2017 interview. Once the judicial conduct commission learned of this, it launched an inquiry into Hensley\u2019s policy in 2018 and issued the public warning the next year.<\/p>\n

Hensley did not appeal the reprimand but instead sued, arguing for protections under the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which states the government can\u2019t make restrictions that substantially burden someone\u2019s freedom of religion.<\/p>\n

The court ruled last year<\/a> Hensley had grounds to proceed with her suit even if she didn\u2019t go the administrative route first, but it didn\u2019t decide her religious freedom claims. The commission eventually dismissed<\/a> its sanction a few months after the Texas Supreme Court\u2019s decision, noting that none of the commissioners were at the agency when it reprimanded Hensley, and it withdrew the sanction after reviewing the underlying facts.<\/p>\n

The Third Court of Appeals in Austin sided with Hensley<\/a> in May, allowing the case to move forward in Travis County District Court.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the case Jack County Judge Brian Umphress<\/a> pointed to in 2020, when he sued the commission over concerns his decision to only marry straight couples and not gay couples and his belonging to a church that opposed gay marriage would open him up to potential judicial discipline \u2014 especially as he planned to campaign in 2022 for reelection and oppose gay marriage as part of his campaign.<\/p>\n

Umphress is not a criminal or civil court judge, or a licensed attorney in Texas, but head of the Jack County Commissioners Court. County judges can officiate marriages in Texas.<\/p>\n

A North Texas federal judge dismissed that lawsuit and ruled Umphress didn\u2019t have standing to sue, but the 5th Circuit revived it upon appeal. The federal appeals court asked the Texas Supreme Court to weigh in, as it deals with state law.<\/p>\n

The Texas Supreme Court has yet to directly answer the 5th Circuit\u2019s certified question, but Jason Mazzone, a law professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who has written about the case<\/a>, said the court\u2019s comment seems to resolve Umphress\u2019 claims.<\/p>\n

Someone could, however, challenge a judge\u2019s decision not to marry gay couples on constitutional equal protection grounds in the future, Mazzone said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the claims that I think will be made in response to litigation that is likely is that, \u2018well, there are other people who can perform the wedding ceremony, so you can\u2019t insist that a particular judge do it,’\u201d Mazzone said. \u201cBut that, of course, is not how equal protection works, and it\u2019s not how we expect government officials to operate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Douglas Lang, one of the attorneys representing the commission in Umphress\u2019 case, said he doesn\u2019t believe the new comment answers the certified question.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t prejudge what the Supreme Court says,\u201d Lang said. \u201cWe\u2019ve suggested in our briefs what we think they oughta say, but that\u2019s what makes an appeal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hiram Sasser with the First Liberty Institute, the religious freedom legal nonprofit that helped represent Hensley, said the institute is heartened by the Texas Supreme Court\u2019s amendment.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow going forward, every judge in Texas will enjoy the freedom Judge Hensley has fought so hard for in her case,\u201d Sasser said in a statement. \u201cAs for her case specifically, this amendment melts away the reasons the Commission relied on to punish Judge Hensley.\u201d<\/p>\n

KERA News has reached out to the attorneys representing Umphress and will update this story with any response.<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s administrative change comes as Chief Justice Jimmy Blacklock<\/a> \u2014 who was sympathetic to Hensley\u2019s case before his appointment as chief justice \u2014 heads the court. When Hensley\u2019s case made it up to the Texas Supreme Court, Blacklock questioned<\/a> how Hensley\u2019s decision showed any more bias than other judges who declined to perform weddings to avoid marrying same-sex couples.<\/p>\n

And although the high court didn\u2019t touch on Hensley\u2019s RFRA claims, Blacklock wrote in a 16-page concurring opinion<\/a> the court should have immediately ruled in Hensley\u2019s favor on her religious freedom claims, noting that no same-sex couples seem to have complained about Hensley.<\/p>\n

\u201cJudge Hensley treated them respectfully,\u201d Blacklock wrote. \u201cThey got married nearby. They went about their lives. Judge Hensley went back to work, her Christian conscience clean, her knees bent only to her God. Sounds like a win-win.\u201d<\/p>\n

The opinion also extensively criticized the State Commission on Judicial Conduct\u2019s decision-making in Hensley\u2019s case.<\/p>\n

The high court\u2019s update also comes as Texas voters are being asked to weigh in on changes to the makeup of state judicial commissioners during the Nov. 4 constitutional amendment election.<\/a> Under Proposition 12<\/a>, the governor would appoint seven members of the public out of the commission\u2019s 13 members. The rest would be a variety of state judges and all would need Senate approval.<\/p>\n

Two former public members of the commission alleged<\/a> they were removed from the commission after how they voted on Hensley\u2019s judicial discipline.<\/p>\n

Toluwani Osibamowo is KERA\u2019s law and justice reporter. Got a tip? Email Toluwani at tosibamowo@kera.org.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Texas judges who decline to perform a wedding ceremony based on a \u201csincerely held religious belief\u201d do not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27191,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[288,18819,18820,1183,14054,27,29,28,3298,7145],"class_list":["post-27190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-elections","tag-fifth-circuit-court-of-appeals","tag-jack-county","tag-lgbtq","tag-state-commission-on-judicial-conduct","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-texas-supreme-court","tag-waco"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}