A Justice of the Peace in McLennon County Texas, Diane Hensley, filed a suit against the Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct after they released a public warning condemning her “referral system” for officiating same-sex marriages.

The warning, released last month, claims that Hensley is in violation of Canon 4A(1) of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct. The commission launched an investigation into Hensley’s conduct after the Waco Tribune published a story in which the judge claimed she would only perform marriages between a man and a woman. She had stopped officiating weddings all together after the Supreme Court Obergefell decision in 2015 but resumed again shortly after.

The Commission claims that in creating a system in which she refers same-sex couples to other officiants to be married, she conducts her extra-judicial activities in a manner that casts doubt on her ability to be impartial as a judge. Hensley argues that the Commission’s threat of discipline through their public warning burdens her “free right to exercise religion.” In letters to each member of the Commission, Hensley’s lawyer cited the Bible and Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 110.006(a)(2). Her suit claims that “no one complained about [her] referral system.” Hensley is seeking a judgement of declaratory relief as well as ten-thousand dollars in damages and attorneys fees.