An Austin district judge recently dismissed litigation by a Waco justice of the peace who alleged her judicial ethics sanction for refusing to marry same-sex couples had violated her religious freedom rights.

Judge Jan Soifer of Travis County’s 459th District Court tossed the claims because the plaintiff, McLennan County Justice of the Peace Pct. 1 Place 1 Judge Dianne Hensley, had filed the lawsuit rather than using the normal appeals procedure for judicial misconduct sanctions. The court also ruled that the defendant, the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct, was immune from the lawsuit.