The Texas Supreme Court on Friday, Oct. 24, added a comment to the Texas state judicial conduct code that protects judges who refuse to conduct same-sex wedding ceremonies based on their “sincerely held religious beliefs.”
The new comment says that such refusals do not violate the state’s rules on judicial impartiality and, therefore, judges who refuse to conduct same-sex wedding ceremonies are not subject to potential sanctions for doing so.
The Rev. Neil Thomas, senior pastor of Cathedral of Hope UCC, today issued a statement condemning the court’s decision, calling it “nothing less than state-sanctioned discrimination and a betrayal of the fundamental promise of equality under the law.”
“This decision gives prejudice a platform and power it does not deserve,” Thomas said. “To deny couples the right to marry because of who they love is an affront to both our Constitution and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Let us be clear: This is not about religious freedom, it is about institutionalizing bias.”
Read Thomas’ complete statement here.
According to KERA, the rule change apparently answers a question of state law that the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals asked the Texas Supreme Court in April. That question was prompted by a lawsuit challenging the State Commission on Judicial Conduct’s since-withdrawn sanctions against Waco Judge Dianne Hensley in 2019 after Hensley refused to conduct a same-sex marriage because marriage equality goes against her religious beliefs.
The Fifth Circuit’s question to the Texas Supreme Court stemmed from a lawsuit filed by Jack County Judge Brian Keith Umphress, who claimed he was concerned he would be sanctioned, as Hensley was, for refusing to officiate at same-sex weddings due to his own religious beliefs, KERA explained in a two-part article last May.
(The KERA article published Tuesday, Oct. 28, includes a detailed explanation of both Hensley’s lawsuit over sanctions against her and Umphress’ lawsuit, and the history behind them.)
The Texas Supreme Court’s rule-changing comment on Oct. 24 amends Canon 4 of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct which prohibits judges from doing anything outside their judicial role that could call into question their impartiality. It comes just two weeks before the U.S. Supreme Court is set meet privately to decide whether they want to grant a hearing in a lawsuit filed by Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who was jailed after refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in 2015 following the Supreme Court’s ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges making marriage equality national law. Davis’ lawsuit claims that being forced to issue same-sex marriage licenses violated her religious freedom.
Davis’ petition has already been rejected more than once by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.
— Tammye Nash
