Texas’ conservative Republican attorney general called the US Supreme Court decision giving same-sex couples the right to marry a “lawless ruling” and said state workers can cite their religious objections in denying marriage licenses.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement on Sunday that any clerk, justice of the peace or other administrator who declines to issue a license to a same-sex couple could face litigation or a fine.
However, in the nonbinding legal opinion requested by Republican Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, Paxton said “numerous lawyers” stand ready to defend — free of charge — any public official refusing to grant one.
In its 5-4 opinion on Friday, the US Supreme Court did nothing to eliminate rights of religious liberty, Paxton’s wrote in the opinion.
“This newly minted federal Constitutional right to same-sex marriage can and should peaceably coexist with long-standing Constitutional and statutory rights, including the rights to free exercise of religion and freedom of speech,” Paxton wrote.
While many Republicans have said they disagreed with the Supreme Court ruling, officials in most states have said that they would abide by it.
Paxton’s comments echoed those on Friday of Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who said Texans cannot be forced by the court ruling to act contrary to their religious beliefs.
In his two-page memo, Abbott told agency leaders that no one in their ranks could take “adverse action” against someone acting on their religious beliefs, including “granting or denying benefits.”
That led to confusion and questions over whether state agencies might deny health or retirement benefits to the spouses of gay employees.
Abbott spokesman John Wittman issued a clarifying statement on Friday, saying that the directive does not order the denial of benefits to same-sex couples.
Since Friday’s ruling, a US federal district court in Texas has prohibited Texas from enforcing state laws that define marriage as exclusively a union between one man and one woman.
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