State officials have written rules providing opportunities for clerks to not due so if they argue that this conflicts with their religious convictions.
A few items along those lines:
- Paxton: County clerks may refuse — on religious grounds — to issue same-sex marriage licenses.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican social conservative, offered at least moral support Sunday for county clerks and their employees who feel their religious beliefs dictate that they decline to issue same-sex marriage licenses.
In a nonbinding legal opinion, Paxton said religious freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment “may allow accommodation of their religious objections to issuing same-sex marriage licenses.”
The clerks who balk at licensing gay marriage “may well face litigation and/or a fine,” Paxton warned.
“Importantly, the strength of any particular religious accommodation claim depends on the particular facts of each case,” he concluded.
“But,” he added in a press release, “numerous lawyers stand ready to assist clerks defending their religious beliefs, in many cases on a pro-bono basis, and I will do everything I can from this office to be a public voice for those standing in defense of their rights.”
- Can a Texas county clerk refuse to issue a gay marriage license? It’s complicated.
. . . For an accommodation to be made, certain questions arise. "Is their religious belief substantially burdened?" Robson asked. "Is it overridden by their status as a public employee? Where is that line? Because as a public employee, you swear to uphold the Constitution." Public employees "don't have full 1st Amendment rights," she said, "because it's balanced against the interest of their employer, which in this case is the government."
What's not allowed, in Robson's estimation, is for a clerk to shut down the issuance of licenses across the board over a personal objection. "The question in terms of accommodation has to do with individuals," Robson said. "So if the entire courthouse closed, that would not be an accommodation."
- First same-sex marriage licenses issued in Brazoria County.
After an opinion from the District Attorney's office this afternoon, County Clerk Joyce Hudman said Brazoria County is officially issuing same-sex marriage licenses. Hudman said her offices have been issuing licenses since 1:30 p.m. and will throughout the day.
District Attorney Jeri Yenne gave the county clerk's office a one-sentence opinion that issuing same-sex marriage licenses is mandatory based on the Supreme Court's decision today.
"As a follow-up to your inquiry regarding marriage licenses, please be advised that on today's date, the Supreme Court of the United States issued an opinion indicating the Fourteenth Amendment requires a state to license a marriage between two people of the same sex," Yenne's memo reads.
