A state appeals court Thursday dismissed a lawsuit by a Waco justice of the peace who sued after a state ethics agency rebuked her in 2019 for refusing to marry same-sex couples. Justice of the Peace Dianne Hensley sued the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, arguing that its sanction violated religious freedoms because her Christian faith did not allow her to conduct same-sex marriages. The Austin-based 3rd Court of Appeals, however, said Hensley took the wrong path by filing suit because state law established a different process to appeal such reprimands. Hensley also failed to show that agency officials acted beyond their authority when they issued their rebuke, the appeals court said. In 2019, the commission — which investigates complaints against Texas judges at all levels — declared that Hensley’s policy of declining to perform same-sex marriages, despite providing that service to opposite-sex couples, violated judicial ethics by casting doubt on her ability to treat LGBTQ people fairly in her courtroom. The policy also violated a canon of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct that requires judges to act in ways that “do not cast reasonable doubt on the judge’s capacity to act impartially,” the commission said. The state […]
