The Texas Attorney General is digging in for a fight against a Travis County judge’s order, which calls the state’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional. The future of same-sex marriage in the state is now in the hands of the Texas Supreme Court.
Travis County Probate Judge Guy Herman called Texas’ ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional on Tuesday. The ruling was part of an estate dispute being fought between an Austin woman and the family of her deceased partner.
Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht said they have been asked by Attorney General Ken Paxton to consider the case. “The attorney general has filed for a review of that decision in our court this morning,” Hecht told a group of reporters.
The AG has asked the court to stay the probate judge’s decision while the case is in the appeals process. In a statement, Paxton wrote: “The probate judge’s misguided ruling does not change Texas law or allow the issuance of a marriage license to anyone other than one man and one woman.”
The AG is also involved in another case, where San Antonio Federal Judge Orlando Garcia ruled against the state ban on gay marriage but then stayed his own ruling pending results of an appeal. The case was heard by a panel of judges at the U.S. 5th Circuit Court, but no ruling has been made as yet.
