Headline Roundup • October 30th, 2025
Judges In Texas Can Now Refuse Same-Sex Marriages, Texas Supreme Court Rules
Summary from the AllSides News Team
The Texas Supreme Court amended a rule for judges in the state to allow them to refuse to perform same-sex marriages based on their personal religious beliefs.
The Details: The Texas Supreme Court amended the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct on October 24, adding the comment, “It 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.” According to Them (Lean Left bias), “the new rule could apply to any marriage, but comes in the context of a series of challenges to same-sex marriage in Texas over the past decade.”
For Context: The amended rule was first added after a Waco Justice of the Peace refused to marry a same-sex couple in 2019 because of her Christian beliefs. The rule originally prohibited judges from “letting any activities outside of their official judicial role cast doubt on their impartiality or interfere with their duties,” according to Newsweek (Center).
How the Media Covered It: Newsweek wrote that the decision “is in line with Governor Greg Abbott’s push to undermine LGBTQ+ rights in the Lone Star State.” Them quoted two legal experts who suggested that this decision may not be the end of the road, as there is potential to sue any judges who refuse to marry couples for violating the equal protections clause in the Constitution. The Texan (Lean Right) framed the issue as a protection of religious freedom with the headline, “Texas Supreme Court Issues Comment Protecting Judges' Religious Beliefs Regarding Same-Sex Ceremonies.”
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Featured Coverage of this Story
Judge Dianne Hensley (Picture from First Liberty Institute) and Jack County Judge Brian Keith Umphress.
The Supreme Court of Texas (SCOTX) has amended the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct by adding a comment that would protect judges based on their “sincerely held religious beliefs.”
On October 24, SCOTX added this comment to Canon 4 of the Code: “It 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.”
Houston Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers/Getty Images
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...
Mario Cantu/CSM/ZUMA Wire/Cal Sport Media/AP
Texas judges who refuse to perform same-sex marriages based on "sincerely held religious beliefs" do not violate the state's rules on judicial impartiality and won't be sanctioned for it, the Texas Supreme Court ruled on Friday.
The court's decision, which was added to the state's judicial conduct code on October 24 effective immediately, follows years of debate in Texas after the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriages in the country in 2015.
In 2019, Waco Justice of the Peace Dianne Hensley was accused of violating the canon for refusing to...
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