A Christian judge in Waco spent six years in court fighting for the right to follow her faith – and won.
The ink on her $640,000 victory had barely dried when Texas' new Democrat chief justice announced her first move.
What the judge declared before she was even sworn in has Christian judges preparing to fight all over again.
Dianne Hensley Spent Six Years Winning Religious Freedom at the Texas Supreme Court
Dianne Hensley is a Justice of the Peace in Waco, Texas. In 2019, she stopped performing same-sex wedding ceremonies because her Christian faith forbids it.
She didn't leave couples stranded – she arranged for a local minister just blocks from her courthouse to perform those ceremonies at the same cost and within the same timeframe.
The State Commission on Judicial Conduct sanctioned her anyway.
Hensley spent six years fighting back — suing under the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act, winning at the Texas Supreme Court in 2024 when justices sent her case back to the lower courts.
And won again in January 2026 when the high court ruled the commission had no legal authority to discipline judges for refusing same-sex weddings on religious grounds.
A Travis County court capped it off in June with $10,000 in damages and more than $630,000 in attorney's fees.
The same Texas Supreme Court – every single justice agreeing – already amended the judicial conduct code in October 2025 to state that judges who "publicly refrain from performing a wedding ceremony based upon a sincerely held religious belief" violate nothing.
The court adopted that rule thirteen months ago, and last week Hensley won re-election to her seat.
Then Maggie Ellis showed up.
Ellis Put the Texas Religious Freedom Exemption in Her Crosshairs on Day One
Ellis, a Democrat who openly identifies as "LGBT," defeated Republican Chief Justice Jimmy Blacklock in last week's midterm elections as part of a Democrat sweep that flipped all four Texas Supreme Court seats on the ballot.
Before Ellis even ran, she telegraphed exactly what she was coming to do.
In a questionnaire for the Stonewall Democrats of Austin, she described the religious freedom rule as "an attack on our community and our Constitution" and cited it as the specific reason she ran for the seat.
Her first public statement as chief justice-elect skipped past court efficiency, docket management, and access to justice — it went straight to stripping away the religious protection Hensley had just won.
"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 told the Dallas Morning News. She called the existing accommodation "back-door discrimination."
"That sounds unconstitutional and tacky to me," Hensley said — freshly re-elected herself.
Kelly Shackelford, president and chief counsel of First Liberty Institute – which represented Hensley through the entire six-year fight – issued a statement the same day.
"It's sad that an incoming Justice's first public statement is one against religious freedom," Shackelford said. "First Liberty stands ready to defend any judge affected by this policy."
Three Republican Justices Face Reelection in 2028 and Ellis Is Already Counting
Ellis has one problem: she doesn't have the votes.
Republicans kept a 5-4 majority on the Texas Supreme Court. Three of those Republican justices face voters in 2028, and if Democrats sweep the court again, Ellis controls the majority.
The religious freedom protection Hensley fought for disappears with it.
The Left has tried this before — forcing a Christian baker in Colorado to design same-sex wedding cakes, forcing a web designer to build same-sex wedding websites for same-sex couples. They lost both cases at the U.S. Supreme Court and came back anyway.
Ellis is making a political declaration — telling every Christian judge in Texas that she views their faith as something to be removed.
That's the chief justice of their court, openly vowing to strip a protection she'll soon have authority over.
Sources:
- Ian M. Giatti, "Texas' 'LGBTQ+' chief justice-elect vows to end religious accommodation for judges refusing same-sex weddings," The Christian Post, November 10, 2026.
- Travis Morgan, "Texas' Incoming Chief Justice Hopes to Remove Religious Freedom Protections for Judges," Texas Scorecard, November 6, 2026.
- Travis Morgan, "Democrats Sweep Statewide Judicial Races," Texas Scorecard, November 3, 2026.
- First Liberty Institute, "Judge Dianne Hensley," firstliberty.org.
- "Texas chief justice-elect seeks to end religious exemptions for judges who decline same-sex weddings," Heartlander News, November 2026.
