A state agency is being sued for punishing a judge, and the Texas Attorney General will not offer its defense
Judge Dianne Hensely of Waco officiates marriages between a man and a woman while refusing to do the same for same sex couples. The commission on judicial conduct issued a warning and in turn, she's suing them.
Renea Hicks was the state's Solicitor General under former Attorney General Jim Mattox and says the commission's position is clearly defensible. "It' can't that it's indefensible. The only thing I can think of is that the Attorney General doesn't like their position." He says the big question is, "does the Attorney General get to decide every time they don't like the position that they won't defend them? Are we do assume that every time the Attorney General defends an agency that he agrees with their position?"
Marc Rylander, a spokesman for attorney General Ken Paxton says "as our office stated in a previous opinion, we believe judges retain their right to religious liberty when they take the bench."
He adds the state commission on Judicial conduct is an independent agency authorized to represent itself.
