Texas protects religious freedom, speech, clarifies law for wedding officiants 

A Texas judge scored a victory for religious freedom, winning her eight-year lawsuit Friday after she was punished for recusing herself from officiating same-sex weddings out of respect for her faith.

“This case started in a time when, politically, everybody thought: ‘this is not a good idea to go fight this case,’ First Liberty Executive General Counsel Hiram Sasser told The Lion in an interview. “But Judge Hensley stood strong and ultimately changed the rules and prevailed.”

Dianne Hensley has served as a judge in McLennan County since Jan. 1, 2015. She officiated 80 weddings in the first five months of her tenure before the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in Obergefell v. Hodges in June 2015, according to the lawsuit. 

Texas judges stop officiating weddings, Hensley helps both camps 

Even though Texas law maintained the definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman, many judges in Texas, including Hensley, stopped officiating weddings out of caution. But after a year, Hensley resumed officiating weddings for heterosexual couples in August 2016, saying her faith prevented her from officiating same-sex weddings.

She drafted a referral list of other officiants and nearby judges who would marry same-sex couples at the same price, including an officiant three blocks from Hensley’s office in Waco, according to the lawsuit.

“Judge Hensley came up with a way that actually helped everybody,” Sasser said.

But in May 2018, the State Commission on Judicial Conduct inquired into Hensley’s practice, saying a judge who officiates any weddings must officiate all weddings, Sasser explained, calling the group a “rogue commission.”

“No same-sex couple has ever complained to the State Commission on Judicial Conduct about Judge Hensley’s referral system, nor has anyone complained to Judge Hensley or her staff about it,” the lawsuit states.

Hensley appeared before the commission in August 2019 and appealed to the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which protects religious beliefs and practices.

“Officiating a wedding ceremony is speech, and the commissioners are preventing Judge Hensley from engaging in this speech unless she agrees to perform homosexual marriages in violation of her Christian faith and in violation of Texas law,” the lawsuit argues.

But the commission issued a public warning in November 2019, saying Hensley violated Texas code, which requires a judge to conduct his or her activities with impartiality. Hensley sued but lost more than $60,000 per year after ceasing to officiate weddings in 2019 in response to the commission’s investigation and warning. Her case made its way to the Texas Supreme Court and was then returned to a lower court. 

Texas law further protects Hensley’s religious freedom 

In October 2025, the Texas Supreme Court unanimously adopted a comment interpreting the Texas rule the commission had used to condemn Hensley, according to the lawsuit. The new comment allows a judge to publicly refrain from performing a wedding based on a religious conviction without violating the law. In January 2026, the court also ruled the commission has no authority to punish judges who decline to officiate same-sex weddings because of religious beliefs, according to First Liberty’s press release.

Shortly afterward, the District Court of Travis County issued a final judgment in Hensley’s favor and awarded her the maximum $10,000 in damages under the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act, as well as $630,000 in attorney fees.

“The Commission is enjoined from investigating, sanctioning or disciplining Judge Dianne Hensley over her refusal to officiate at same sex weddings on account of her religious beliefs, regardless of whether Judge Hensley continues to perform marriages for opposite-sex couples,” the final judgment says.

In addition to the Texas Supreme Court’s clarification of state law, the state Legislature also amended the selection process for the commission, Sasser said.

“The legislature changed the way the Judicial Conduct Commission is selected in order to make sure that the right kind of people are on there that are going to respect the Constitution and respect our laws,” he said. 

More cases like Hensley’s across Texas 

While Hensley’s case is settled, the commission faces millions of dollars in other statewide lawsuits from judges in the same or similar situations, Sasser said.

“The Commission’s bullying of Judge Hensley and its menacing behavior toward other Christian judges is the direct result of the Supreme Court’s pronouncement in Obergefell that homosexual marriage is a constitutional right, and that anyone who opposes homosexual marriage is therefore an enemy of the Constitution,” the lawsuit states. “This has emboldened activists and politicians to embark on a campaign of intimidation against individuals and institutions who dare to express the belief that marriage is between one man and one woman – even when the expressions of this belief are supposed to be protected by the Speech Clause and the Free Exercise Clause.”