Texas Supreme Court Allows Politics to Decide Law

In a stunning decision influenced by local politics the Texas Supreme Court has just rejected a lower court’s ruling that found same-sex couples are entitled to the same benefits as different-sex couples. The high court sent the case back to the lower court to review.

“The case was part of Texas Republicansâ€™ ongoing fight against the U.S. Supreme CourtÂ ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwideÂ and led to the enactment of benefits policies for married same-sex couples,” the Texas Tribune reports.

“At the center of the Houston case is whether that ruling â€” known asÂ Obergefell v. HodgesÂ â€” requires city and other governmental agencies to extend those taxpayer-subsidized benefits to same-sex spouses of government employees. Following that ruling, public employers in Texas, including state agencies and public universities â€”Â quickly extendedÂ such benefits.”

But in an attempt to re-litigate the high courtâ€™s decision, two taxpayers â€” represented by same-sex marriage opponents â€” are suing Houston over its policy. Theyâ€™ve argued that the interpretation ofÂ ObergefellÂ is too broad and that the right to marry does not â€œentail any particular package of tax benefits, employee fringe benefits or testimonial privileges.â€

The Texas Supreme Court may have sent the case back to the lower courts,Â but in its ruling it makes clear its real opinion.

“In Obergefell, the Supreme Court acknowledged that our historical view of marriage has long been ‘based on the understanding that marriage is a union between two persons of the opposite sex,'” Â JusticeÂ Jeffrey S. Boyd writes in Friday’sÂ Texas Supreme CourtÂ opinion.Â

“It concluded, however, that this ‘history is the beginning of these cases,’ and it rejected the idea that it ‘should be the end as well,'” he says.

“Obergefell is not the end either. Already, the Supreme Court has taken one opportunity to address Obergefellâ€™s impact on an issue it did not address in Obergefell, and there will undoubtedly be others,” Boyd writes, referring to the just-decided Arkansas case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled same-sex couples have the right to have both their names opn their children’s birth certificates.

Odd and incredibly disingenuous for TX Supreme Court to cite Pavan for proposition that the boundaries of Obergefell are uncertain. #txlege pic.twitter.com/OYJxLUAZ9e â€” Anthony M. Kreis (@AnthonyMKreis) June 30, 2017

Boyd adds that the defendent and plaintiff in the Texas case “must now assist the courts in fully exploring Obergefellâ€™s reach and ramifications, and are entitled to the opportunity to do so.”

It is without question a cop-out. The law is clear, and challenges to Obergefell have also been clear. Fewderal courts have always ruled since Obergefell that married same-sex couples must be treated exactly like different-sex couples. There is no grey here.

UPDATE:Â Texas Supreme Court Admits It Considered Public Opinion on Postcards to Reject Ruling Gay Couples Must Receive Equal Benefits

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