New Texas Rule Allows Judges to Stop Marrying Same-Sex Couples

Judges in Texas may refuse to marry same-sex couples if doing so would violate their “sincerely held religious beliefs,” according to a new judicial rule quietly enacted by the Texas Supreme Court last week.

On October 24, the high court issued an order modifying the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct, which lays out rules for judges in the state. The Code states that a judge’s “extra-judicial activities” should not “cast reasonable doubt on the judge's capacity to act impartially as a judge.” But the Court’s newly adopted comment creates an exception to that rule specifically for marriage rights, stating that “[i]t is not a violation of these canons for a judge to publicly refrain from performing a wedding ceremony based upon a sincerely held religious belief.” The comment effectively protects Texas judges from official sanctions if they say their religion prohibits them from marrying a same-sex couple.