As soon as the divorce case between two men who were married in Massachusetts landed on Texas Family District Court Judge Tena Callahan’s docket last year, she knew there would be repercussions.

Voters in the state had overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment in 2005 prohibiting civil unions and same-sex marriages. Callahan, a Democrat, ruled on Oct. 1, 2009, that the Texas ban violates the 14th Amendment. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has appealed.