A Texas judge who was disciplined for declining to officiate same-sex weddings due to her religious beliefs has secured a significant legal victory. She received a $10,000 settlement and more than $630,000 in attorneys’ fees, even as similar litigation involving judges across the state continues.
First Liberty Institute announced Friday that a Travis County district court awarded the settlement to Judge Dianne Hensley, a Waco-based judge who was sanctioned by the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct after she declined to perform same-sex weddings.
The court’s ruling, issued on June 16, not only granted Hensley the maximum compensatory damages allowed under the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act but also permanently barred the Commission from investigating, sanctioning, or disciplining her for refusing to officiate same-sex weddings because of her religious beliefs—regardless of whether she continues to perform marriages for opposite-sex couples.
“Judge Hensley always adhered to the law and the legal guidance provided by the attorney general of Texas,” said First Liberty Institute Executive General Counsel Hiram Sasser. “We are grateful that this case has concluded and that Judge Hensley was vindicated.”
First Liberty added that, to ensure all residents of McLennan County had access to low-cost wedding ceremonies, Judge Hensley compiled a referral list of local wedding officiants who would perform same-sex ceremonies at the same price she charged.
The legal group noted that Hensley received no public complaints. Nevertheless, the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct issued a public warning accusing her of violating the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct.
Hensley sued the Commission in 2019, alleging it violated her rights under the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Last year, the Texas Supreme Court approved new language for the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct clarifying that “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.”
Despite the Texas Supreme Court’s amendments, the Commission did not immediately drop its action against Hensley. In a court filing submitted late last year, lawyers for the Commission argued that “The comment only gives a judge the authority to ‘opt out’ of officiating due to a sincere religious belief, but does not say that a judge can, at the same time, welcome heterosexual couples into her chambers for whom she willingly offers to conduct marriage ceremonies.”
In a separate lawsuit filed late last year in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Hensley alleged that the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 *Obergefell v. Hodges* decision legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide was unconstitutional. She argued: “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 Texas law.”
First Liberty said a subsequent Texas Supreme Court ruling proved decisive. On January 9, 2026, the Court held in a different case that the Commission has no authority under state law to discipline judges who refuse to perform same-sex weddings for moral or religious reasons. The district court entered judgment in favor of Judge Hensley shortly thereafter.
“Although the Hensley litigation has concluded, the Commission is still facing a statewide class-action lawsuit on behalf of justices of the peace who were unwilling to perform same-sex marriages and stopped performing weddings entirely to avoid disciplinary action,” First Liberty Institute added. “The class action is seeking damages in the tens of millions of dollars for income lost by justices of the peace throughout the state.”
