Last month, the Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct issued a Public Warning (
full text) to Justice of the Peace Dianne Hensley. The Nov. 12 warning reads in part:
Beginning on about August 1, 2016, Judge Hensley and her court staff began giving all same-sex couples wishing to be married by Judge Hensley a document which stated "I'm sorry, but Judge Hensley has a sincerely held religious belief as a Christian, and will not be able to perform any same sex weddings." The document contained a list of local persons who would officiate a same-sex wedding....
... Judge Hensley testified that she would recuse herself from a case in which a party doubted her impartiality on the basis that she publicly refuses to perform same-sex weddings.....
... [T]he Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct has determined that the Honorable Judge Dianne Hensley ... should be publicly warned for casting doubt on her capacity to act impartially to persons appearing before her as a judge due to the person's sexual orientation in violation of Canon 4A(l) of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct.
