Texas Supreme Court Issues Opinion in Same-Sex Divorce Case

Austin, TX, June 19, 2015-Today, Jonathan Saenz, attorney and president of Texas Values released the following statement regarding the Texas Supreme Court decision in a case involving a same-sex divorce granted in Travis County.  Five members of the Texas Supreme Court: Justices Jeff Brown, Nathan Hecht, Paul Green, Phil Johson, and Jeff Boyd joined the prevailing opinion.

“Today five members of the Texas Supreme Court refused to vacate a patently illegal and unconstitutional divorce decree entered by a Travis County district court. Worse, they refused even to consider the appeal brought by the Attorney General in response to this lawless act. The Court’s reasons for disregarding the Attorney General’s appeal do not hold water, for the reasons explained in Justice Willett’s powerful and well-reasoned dissent. We commend Justices Willett, Guzman, and Devine, for their efforts to counter the lawless actions of the Travis County district court.”

The opinion of the court can be found here.  The dissenting opinion by Justice Willett, joined by Justice Guzman and Justice Devine can be found here.  Justice Debra Lehrman did not take part in the decision.