Best mugshot ever
A federal judge has canceled next week’s contempt-of-court hearing for Attorney General Ken Paxton, saying it is not needed because Texas government agencies have begun acknowledging same-sex marriages.
U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia had ordered Paxton and a state health official to appear in his San Antonio courtroom last month to explain why the state was not listing same-sex marriages on death certificates. Garcia postponed that hearing until Sept. 10 after Paxton said state policies were being changed to allow same-sex marriages to be listed on all state documents, including birth and adoption records.
Paxton last week asked Garcia to cancel the postponed hearing, saying Texas was complying with his order to treat same-sex marriages no differently than opposite-sex unions.
Garcia agreed, saying in an order Tuesday that state officials were properly recognizing same-sex marriages as required by the U.S. Supreme Court’s June opinion that struck down all state bans on gay marriage.
Garcia, however, noted that his office had received letters complaining that gay couples were still being denied marriage licenses in a few counties he did not identify.
See here, here, and here for the background. It would be nice to have more details about those letters Judge Garcia received, but at this point it does seem like the system is finally working as it’s supposed to. If all else fails, Judge Garcia can always reschedule that hearing. He may now be in compliance, but it’s not clear to me that Paxton has learned anything from the experience.
Though that decision marks something of a win for Paxton, the attorney general’s first assistant bristled at the notion that it was even necessary.
“For better or worse, Tx was never ‘not complying,’” First Assistant Attorney General Chip Roy wrote on Twitter. “There was never basis for contempt hearing for AG or otherwise.”
All the legal wrangling came after Conroe resident John Allen Stone-Hoskins sued the state to amend his husband’s death certificate and add his name as a spouse. Pressure also mounted for the Department of State Health Services to address other such forms.
The death certificate of Stone-Hoskins’ husband, James, has since been amended. And Neel Lane, Stone-Hoskins’ attorney, said in August that fixing those documents “should be the final chapter” in the state recognizing the same-sex marriage ruling.
Garcia’s order did note complaints that some county clerks continue to deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples. While pointing out those issues weren’t before the court, Garcia highlighted the attorney general’s pledge to not represent those clerks in litigation.
“The court expects that Ken Paxton … will utilize [his] unique position to ensure proper implementation of the law across the State of Texas,” Garcia wrote.
He’d better. And please spare us the whining, Chip. Go talk to people like John Stone-Hoskins about how they were being treated and see if you can stand by your statement. Someone needed to get Paxton’s undivided attention, and Judge Garcia was the one to do it. I’m very glad he did.
Too bad this didn’t coincide better with Paxton’s OTHER criminal matter. Maybe he could serve concurrent sentences for the security violations, and for enabling county clerks to break the law….kind of a 2-fer, as it were.