She has been arguing that, as a Christian, she should not have to follow state rules about judicial impartiality.
A Texas judge is asking a federal court to overturn marriage equality in the U.S., arguing in a lawsuit filed on Friday that marriage for same-sex couples is unconstitutional because it was legalized in a decision that “subordinat[ed] state law to the policy preferences of unelected judges.”
The case involves Judge Dianne Hensley of Waco, Texas, who has been involved in years of legal proceedings to try to win the right to not perform marriages for same-sex couples while still performing them for opposite-sex couples. She claims that, as a Christian, she should not have to follow state judicial ethics rules about impartiality.
I misread the title by missing the word “equality” and was intrigued by the idea of a Texas judge calling for the abolishment of marriage XD
Alabama tried this back in 2017 with Common Law marriage in response to a number of gay couples attempting to claim it following the 2015 ruling requiring same-sex marriages to be recognized. Now Alabama requires an official court recognition of any marriage. And as a result, a handful of counties have operated in defiance of the Supreme Court by refusing to issue same-sex licenses. Another set have ended the practice of issuing marriage license at all.
But its not a practical solution, given the amount of legal scholarship surrounding the concept of marriage. Like, marriage and adoption are the two established methods of including two biologically unrelated individuals in the same legal household. There’s no other universal interstate mechanism for doing it.
Incidentally, one historical method of getting around same-sex marriage restrictions for gay couples was for one partner to legally adopt the other as a child. There’s a whole host of reasons why this isn’t a good legal substitute for marriage.