Last week the court revised its judicial code of conduct to unequivocally protect judges.
By Catholics for Catholics
The Supreme Court of Texas amended its judicial code, permitting judges who decline to perform legal unions between two people of the same sex to abstain from doing so.
According to a story published by The Christian Post, magistrates who refuse to perform the legal unions based on their authentically held religious beliefs will no longer face disciplinary action for doing so.
Last week, the Texas Supreme Court revised its judicial code of conduct to unequivocally protect judges in a ruling that stems from a lawsuit filed by McLennan County Justice of the Peace Dianne Hensley, who in 2019 refused to marry same-sex couples, stating it would be “inconsistent with her religious faith.”
The President and attorney for Texas Values, Jonathan Saenz, who filed an amicus brief in support of Hensley in 2023, stated the update “should make it crystal clear that this religious freedom applies statewide, including in the case of Judge Diane Hensley,” and could resolve her lingering lower court challenges.
“The Texas Supreme Court got it right with this important victory for religious freedom. In a state where religious freedom is widely supported, it’s common sense that a judge should not be punished for sincerely held religious beliefs,” Saenz said. “A judge should not have to choose between their conscience and their career.”
Judges and justices of the peace in Texas are not obligated to perform weddings, but in the aftermath of the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges ruling, they were presumed to officiate them for both same-sex and opposite-sex couples or neither. The new rule permits them to selectively refrain based on religious objections.
The guidance comes as the U.S. Supreme Court is set to hold a private conference on Nov. 7 to ponder a challenge to same-sex legal unions from Kim Davis, the former Kentucky county clerk who refused licenses to gay couples after the Obergefell decision legalizing it nationwide.
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