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A Texas Judge Is Trying to Use the SCOTUS Anti-LGBTQ Ruling to Refuse to Marry Same-Sex Couples
In 2019, Waco, Texas Justice of the Peace Dianne Hensley received an official “public warning” from the state’s Commission on Judicial Conduct for refusing to officiate weddings for same-sex couples.
The warning, while public, did not come with any fine nor any severe sanctions or censure, as NCRM reported at the time, yet Judge Hensley sued. She retained a far-right wing anti-LGBTQ Christian activist group with ties to Trump, First Liberty Institute, to represent her in her $10,000 lawsuit for damages.
Three years later, almost to the day of her warning, a Texas bipartisan appeals court panel in Austin ruled against her.
“She failed to make her case, the three-member panel wrote,” The Dallas Morning News reported.
Her case essentially was “that the State Commission on Judicial Conduct [had] violated her religious freedom by reprimanding her for performing weddings solely for heterosexual couples,” the paper explained.
Hensley was not merely asking that she be allowed to refuse to wed same-sex couples, she was asking the Commission and its members be prevented “from investigating or sanctioning judges or justices of the peace who recuse themselves from officiating at same-sex weddings on account of their sincere religious beliefs.”
In their public warning, the Commission on Judicial Conduct had cited the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct, which states that a “judge shall conduct all of the judge’s extra-judicial activities so that they do not cast reasonable doubt on the judge’s capacity to act impartially as a judge.”
The Commission determined 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.”
The Dallas Morning News later added that “Hensley, who is represented by former Texas solicitor general Jonathan Mitchell, indicated on Dec. 19 that she intends to appeal the decision to the state Supreme Court.”
Jonathan Mitchell is the attorney who devised the legal mechanism, the basis for Texas’ controversial “vigilante,” or “bounty hunter” abortion ban that relies not on government officials but instead, “deputizes ordinary citizens to enforce an effective ban on abortions — and offers them a financial incentive to do so” as The New York Times explained.
Attorney Mitchell, The Dallas Morning News also reported, after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, set his “sights on gay marriage.”
Now that the U.S. Supreme Court in 303 Creative ruled last month in favor of a private business owner who claims her personal religious beliefs prevent her from designing wedding websites for same-sex couples despite having never formally been asked to do so, Hensley is once again suing for the “right” to not marry same-sex couples.
And Mitchell is reportedly once again her attorney.
Hensley’s new “lawsuit alleges that the commission violated her rights under the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Her lawsuit was dismissed by a lower appeals tribunal, but last month, the Texas Supreme Court said it will hear arguments on whether to revive the state judge’s lawsuit,” The Texas Tribune reports.
Hensley “argues that though the Supreme Court used the First Amendment and not state law in the 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis case, the decision is also applicable in her lawsuit.”
Some legal experts have told The Texas Tribune the Supreme Court’s 303 Creative case is far different from Hensley’s case.
“The law of the land is marriage equality. It’s as simple as that,” Johnathan Gooch, a spokesperson for Equality Texas told the Tribune. “If judges and justices of the peace were empowered to only enforce the laws that they agreed with, we would quickly descend into anarchy.”
Meanwhile, Jezebel also points out that “Hensley’s lawyer is none other than Jonathan Mitchell, the architect of Texas’ bounty hunter abortion ban known as S.B. 8 and counsel for the Texas man suing his ex-wife’s friends for allegedly helping her obtain abortion pills. Unsurprisingly, Mitchell opposes gay rights and said in a Supreme Court brief that Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 ruling that legalized marriage equality, is a court-invented right that is just “as lawless as Roe [v. Wade].” He also attacks LGBTQ rights more broadly: In 2018, Mitchell represented a group seeking exemptions to anti-discrimination rules so they could refuse to hire LGBTQ people it if countered their religious beliefs and he’s the lawyer arguing that insurance shouldn’t have to cover PrEP drugs.”
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Britain’s King Charles III delivered a “carefully targeted rebuff” of President Donald Trump and his MAGA allies during his historic address before Congress, Politico reports, as he lauded NATO and called for “unyielding resolve” to defend Ukraine against Russia.
“British monarchs deliver their political messages in code,” Politico noted, adding that “contrary to the president’s repeated claims over recent weeks, NATO was in fact there to help in America’s hour of need.”
Charles told members of Congress that in “the immediate aftermath of 9/11, when NATO invoked Article 5 for the first time, and the United Nations Security Council was united in the face of terror, we answered the call together, as our people have done so, for more than a century.”
“Shoulder to shoulder,” he declared, “through two world wars, the Cold War, Afghanistan, and moments that have defined our shared security. Today, Mr. Speaker, that same unyielding resolve is needed for the defense of Ukraine and her most courageous people.”
His Ukraine entreaty received bipartisan applause and a standing ovation.
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Charles praised the United States’ armed forces’ “commitment and expertise,” and that of its allies, that “lie at the heart of NATO.”
Calling it “a direct plea to Trump and Hill Republicans to maintain American support against the Russian invasion,” Politico stated that Charles “is striking a very different tone from Trump’s incessant criticisms of Ukraine and its President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.”
King Charles III: ” When NATO invoked Article 5 for the first time…in the face of terror, we answered the call together, as our people have done so for more than a century… that same unyielding resolve is needed for the defense of Ukraine…” pic.twitter.com/VM5ztJta1s
— CSPAN (@cspan) April 28, 2026
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Image via Reuters
The White House is alleging that “unhinged” and “sick rhetoric” from Democrats is to blame for inciting the alleged assassination attempt on President Donald Trump and members of his administration by “another Radical Left lunatic.”
On Saturday, at the hotel hosting the annual White House Correspondents Association Dinner, a heavily armed man broke through a security checkpoint on the floor above the event and was taken down by Secret Service agents. In his manifesto, the suspect, Cole Tomas Allen, allegedly named “Administration officials ” as his primary “targets.”
On Tuesday, in a press release titled “Democrats’ Unhinged Rhetoric Incites Third Assassination Attempt on President Trump,” the Trump White House charged that the “attack was not random; it was the predictable result of years of reckless, inflammatory, and escalating rhetoric from Democrats” who “have created a toxic environment that incites their supporters to violence again and again.”
The White House listed over a dozen prominent Democrats and their remarks.
For example, it cited House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries who said that Democrats “are in an era of maximum warfare, everywhere, all the time” against Republicans. Jeffries’ remarks were initially taken from a direct quote attributed to a “person close to the White House,” as The New York Times reported last year.
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In August, The Times reported: “One person close to the president, who insisted on anonymity to describe the White House’s political strategy candidly, summed it up succinctly: ‘Maximum warfare, everywhere, all the time.'”
The White House did not mention the connection.
In its press release, the White House also quoted Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who “called on his supporters to ‘be forcefully rising up against’ President Trump.” Senator Schumer did not say, against President Trump. He said, “against this,” referring to the Trump Justice Department’s prosecution of New York Attorney General Letitia James.
The White House also cited Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro for saying that “heads do need to roll” inside the Trump Administration, and California Governor Gavin Newsom for urging supporters to “punch these sons of b —— in the mouth.”
In total, the White House cited eighteen Democrats and their statements.
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Image via Reuters
The Federal Communications Commission is preparing to review Disney’s broadcast licenses, according to an exclusive report by Semafor.
According to Semafor, a person familiar with the FCC’s thinking said the review is not directly tied to a monologue delivered last week by ABC’s late night host Jimmy Kimmel, which targeted President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump.
But NBC News, citing a source familiar with the matter, reported later on Tuesday that the FCC is expected to order Disney’s eight broadcast stations to file their broadcast license reviews early.
A source told NBC News the move was “unprecedented” and directly tied to Kimmel’s comments.
On Monday, First Lady Melania Trump blasted ABC, demanding the broadcast network hold Kimmel to account.
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“Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country,” the First Lady said on social media. “His monologue about my family isn’t comedy- his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America.”
“People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate,” she continued, calling the late night host a “coward” who “hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover to protect him.”
Later on Monday, President Trump went even further than the First Lady, demanding Kimmel “be immediately fired by Disney and ABC.”
Days earlier, on Thursday night, in a mock version of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Kimmel delivered several jokes, including saying: “Our First Lady, Melania, is here. Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.”
Kimmel delivered his monologue two days before an alleged assassination attempt targeting Trump and top administration officials at the actual White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday.
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Image via Reuters
King Charles Discreetly Rebukes Trump in Historic Address to Congress: Report
FCC Poised to Review Disney Licenses Amid Trump Pressure Over Kimmel Joke: Report
Trump White House Blames Democrats’ ‘Unhinged Rhetoric’ for Inciting WHCD Attack
King Charles Discreetly Rebukes Trump in Historic Address to Congress: Report
Trump White House Blames Democrats’ ‘Unhinged Rhetoric’ for Inciting WHCD Attack
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