Tag Archives: Liberty Institute

How alarmed should I be by these?

Posted on December 30, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

News item one: Texas launched a lawsuit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last week over the agency’s approval of mifepristone, marking the state’s latest effort to crack down on access to abortion pills. Joined by Florida, Texas Attorney … Continue reading →

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Judges can discriminate against same-sex couples

Posted on November 1, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

For now, at least. 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, according to a comment the Texas Supreme Court added to the state’s judicial … Continue reading →

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Anti-gay Waco JP gets her lawsuit reinstated

Posted on June 30, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Boy, the State Supreme Court sure had a banner day on Friday. The state’s highest court ruled Friday that a Waco judge who had refused to officiate same-sex marriages had a right to sue the State Commission on Judicial Conduct … Continue reading →

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Anti-gay Waco JP’s lawsuit heard by SCOTx

Posted on October 28, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Now we wait. Texas Supreme Court justices Wednesday questioned whether a Waco justice of the peace should remain under threat of a judicial oversight body’s sanctions if she continues refusing to marry gay couples. The State Commission on Judicial Conduct … Continue reading →

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Anti-gay Waco JP’s lawsuit to be considered by SCOTx

Posted on June 29, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

The end of the line one way or the other. The Texas Supreme Court will review a case involving a Waco justice of the peace’s refusal to perform same-sex weddings. McLennan County Justice of the Peace Dianne Hensley sued the … Continue reading →

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Anti-gay Waco JP’s lawsuit still tossed

Posted on November 8, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Good. An Austin intermediate appellate court has upheld a Travis County judge’s decision to throw out McLennan County Justice of the Peace Dianne Hensley’s lawsuit against the state panel that sanctioned her in 2019 for refusing to perform same-sex weddings. … Continue reading →

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Anti-gay Waco JP’s lawsuit tossed

Posted on July 1, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s a bit of good news. A Travis County judge has thrown out McLennan County Justice of the Peace Dianne Hensley’s lawsuit against the state panel that sanctioned her in 2019 for refusing to perform same-sex weddings. Judge Jan Soifer … Continue reading →

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Ken Paxton does Ken Paxton thing

Posted on February 2, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Film at 11. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office is not defending a state agency that is being sued for punishing a judge who refuses to officiate gay marriages. It’s the most recent in a handful of cases in which … Continue reading →

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Anti-gay Waco JP sues for the right to be an anti-gay JP

Posted on December 22, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Ugh. A Waco judge who received a public warning last month for refusing to officiate same-sex marriages filed a lawsuit against the state agency that issued the warning, claiming the governmental body violated state law by punishing her for actions … Continue reading →

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The cost of defying the law on same sex marriage

Posted on August 19, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Nearly $44K in attorneys’ fees, and it could have been worse. It has been a month since Joe Stapleton and Jim Cato finally got the marriage license Hood County Clerk Katie Lang denied them because of her religious beliefs. It … Continue reading →

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Federal lawsuit filed in Hood County

Posted on July 7, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

That sound you hear is the rubber meeting the road. The motion for a temporary injunction and temporary restraining order was filed this morning in Fort Worth federal court on behalf of Soifer’s clients, Jim Cato and Joe Stapleton, who’ve … Continue reading →

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Here come the lawyers

Posted on July 6, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t see how the squadron of anti-equality attorneys has a case in the wake of Obergfell, but they’re gonna try their best to muck things up anyway. Now, conservative attorneys are gearing up to defend [government employees who refuse … Continue reading →

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I repeat, no one will be forced to perform a same sex wedding

Posted on May 5, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

This really is a huge waste of time. For some gay rights advocates, a bill in the Texas Legislature that would allow clergy to refuse to marry same-sex couples would be acceptable if it just included four more words. As … Continue reading →

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Plano equality opponents turn in their petitions

Posted on January 21, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Yesterday was the deadline for the opponents of Plano’s equal rights ordinance to turn in petitions to force a repeal referendum, and the haters of Plano duly did so. Opponents of Plano’s Equal Rights Ordinance say they’ve met the deadline … Continue reading →

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Villalba gets defensive about his pro-discrimination bill

Posted on December 23, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t know if Rep. Jason Villalba is willfully dense or just confused, but either way this is a big pile of BS. State Rep. Jason Villalba (R-Dallas) remains adamant that a proposed constitutional amendment he filed earlier this month … Continue reading →

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Plano passes equal rights ordinance

Posted on December 10, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

How about that? In a split vote Monday, the Plano City Council passed the controversial Equal Rights Policy over the objections of many residents in the standing-room-only crowd. The amendment to the city’s 1989 anti-discrimination policy extends protections from housing, … Continue reading →

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