Texas' 'LGBTQ+' chief justice-elect vows to end religious accommodation for judges refusing same-sex weddings

The newly elected chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court, who identifies as "openly LGBTQ+," said she plans to eliminate a religious accommodation for judges who refuse to perform wedding ceremonies for same-sex couples.

Chief Justice-elect Maggie Ellis, a Democrat who defeated Republican Chief Justice Jimmy Blacklock in last week’s election, told The Dallas Morning News she wants to work with the other justices to change the court’s existing rule, which allows a judge to publicly refrain from performing a marriage that conflicts with his or her sincerely held religious beliefs.

Under a rule change in October 2025, Texas judges who decline to perform a wedding ceremony based on a “sincerely held religious belief” do not violate the state’s rules on judicial impartiality. 

The two-line comment amended the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct to read: “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.”

“One thing I’d like to do is work with the other justices to amend these orders to say either you perform all marriages, or none,” Ellis said, adding she believes the rule amounts to “back-door discrimination.”

“It’s really the wrong direction for our Supreme Court,” Ellis said.

Ellis will need support from Republican justices to change the rule. Despite Democrats winning all four Supreme Court seats on the ballot, Republicans will keep a 5-4 majority on the high court when she's sworn in in January 2027.

The rule stemmed from a high-profile dispute involving Waco Justice of the Peace Dianne Hensley, a Christian judge who said her faith prohibits her from officiating same-sex marriage ceremonies. 

Despite no public complaints, the State Commission on Judicial Conduct sanctioned Hensley and accused her of violating canons in the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct. 

In January, the Texas Supreme Court ruled in a separate case that the commission has no authority to discipline judges who decline to perform same-sex weddings for moral or religious reasons. In June, a Travis County district court awarded Hensley $10,000 in damages and more than $630,000 in attorneys’ fees.

First Liberty Institute, which represented Hensley, warned Ellis’ comments could signal a looming fight over religious liberty for Texas state judges.

“It’s sad that an incoming Justice’s first public statement is one against religious freedom. We’ve won in litigation on this very issue,” said Kelly Shackelford, president, CEO and chief counsel for First Liberty Institute in a press release. “Religious freedom and accommodation are fundamental rights rooted in the history and tradition of America. The new Chief Justice is off to a regrettable start. First Liberty stands ready to defend any judge affected by this policy.”

Ellis previously signaled her personal objection to the rule change to the Judicial Code of Conduct in a primary candidate questionnaire for the LGBT advocacy group Stonewall Democrats of Austin.

After committing to working to “protect the critical rights of [the LGBT] community through cases that come before me,” Ellis also appeared to equate holding deeply-held religious beliefs with an “attack” on same-sex marriage and said that prompted her to run.

She wrote that she viewed the rule change to “be an attack on our community and our Constitution, and I made the decision to run for a seat on that Court. We must do what we can within our power to protect our rights and the rights of our community.”

Riding what advocates called a midterm “rainbow wave” in Texas and other longtime red states, Ellis is the first woman elected to lead the Texas Supreme Court and the first “openly queer” woman to win a statewide election in Texas.