Overview
- The court on Oct. 24 added an immediate-effect comment to Canon 4 stating it is not a violation for a judge to publicly refrain from performing a wedding based on a sincerely held religious belief.
- The update follows years of disputes involving Waco Justice of the Peace Dianne Hensley, who was admonished in 2019 for declining same-sex weddings before that sanction was withdrawn.
- The change is not framed as specific to same-sex marriages but shields such refusals from being treated as per se violations of state impartiality rules.
- The Fifth Circuit had asked the Texas Supreme Court to clarify state law in a related case involving Jack County Judge Brian Umphress, and the court has not directly answered that certified question.
- Religious-liberty advocates praised the revision, while legal analysts note judges could still face federal equal-protection challenges; the court and the judicial conduct commission declined to comment on pending litigation.