Overview
- A Travis County judge ruled June 16 that McLennan County Justice of the Peace Dianne Hensley must receive $10,000 in compensatory damages and about $630,000 in attorney fees and permanently enjoined the State Commission on Judicial Conduct from investigating or disciplining her for refusing to officiate same‑sex weddings.
- Hensley sued the commission in 2019 under the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act after the agency issued a public warning for her policy of performing marriages only for opposite‑sex couples.
- The Texas Supreme Court changed the state judicial conduct rules to allow judges to decline to perform wedding ceremonies for sincerely held religious reasons and in January 2026 ruled the commission lacks authority to discipline such refusals, developments that undercut the commission’s case against Hensley.
- Hensley and her lawyers said she maintained a referral list so same‑sex couples could obtain low‑cost officiants without delay, and the commission later withdrew its 2019 warning before the district court entered judgment.
- The ruling comes as a Tarrant County class action seeks tens of millions in lost‑income damages from the commission and Hensley pursues a separate federal suit challenging the 2015 Obergefell decision, a mix of claims that could reshape discipline rules and access to local marriage services across Texas.