The Texas Supreme Court denied a request from the Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct that asked the court to expand on its finding that judges can refuse to perform same-sex marriages on moral or religious grounds. The Texas Supreme Court had previously answered the question “Does Canon 4A(1) of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct prohibit judges from publicly refusing, for moral or religious reasons, to perform same-sex weddings while continuing to perform opposite-sex weddings?”—which certified question came to the court from the Fifth Circuit—as “No.” In a concurring opinion, the court’s chief justice said that the court’s previous “no” answer was clear: “The answer to this question, which we gave as directly and as plainly as can be given in the English language, is ‘no.’ Id. ‘“Accordingly, the answer to the certified question is no.’). Only a lawyer could fail to appreciate the decisive clarity of so simple and useful a word as ‘no.’” The Center had submitted an amicus brief to the Texas Supreme Court for its consideration of the certified question.
