Texas Judge who refused to officiate same-sex weddings sues to overturn marriage equalityhttps://www.advocate.com/politics/texas-judge-marriage-equality-lawsuit 🔗Ryan Adamczeski (22 Dec 2025)
A judge in Texas who refused to perform weddings for same-sex couples has filed a lawsuit asking federal courts to overturn marriage equality.
Dianne Hensley filed the suit against the State Commission on Judicial Conduct on Friday, claiming that the 2015 ruling that legalized marriage equality nationally, Obergefell v. Hodges, is somehow unconstitutional. The lawsuit states, via The Texas Tribune, that "the federal judiciary has no authority to recognize or invent 'fundamental' constitutional rights."
Hensley's lawyer, Jonathan Mitchell, acknowledged in the filing that federal courts do not have the authority to overturn marriage equality, but that they are hoping the case will get picked up by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Hensley stopped officiating weddings altogether in 2015 in response to Obergefell, as she said performing same-sex marriages would be incompatible with her conservative Christian faith. She resumed performing marriages the next year for opposite-sex couples, while giving same-sex couples who came to her office a list of alternative officiants, some that were cities away.
The State Commission on Judicial Conduct began an investigation of her actions in 2018, which concluded the next year with the commission reprimanding her and putting out a warning that she might not be impartial when it came to matters of sexual orientation.
