Texas Judge Wants To Deny Spousal Benefits To Same-Sex Couples

On September 2, the Texas Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s ruling to protect same-sex couples from denial of the spousal benefits opposite-sex couples enjoy. However, Justice John Devine, opposed the majority opinion and hinted at the larger effort of conservatives to work around the landmark 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges case.

According to Slate, Devine wrote in his dissenting opinion that “[m]arriage is a fundamental right,” however “[s]pousal benefits are not.”

Devine further argued that a state has an “interest in encouraging procreation”, and that “offering certain benefits to opposite-sex couples would encourage procreation within marriage.”

“After all, benefits such as health insurance provide financial security as couples decide whether to have a child,” Devine continued. “An opposite-sex marriage is the only marital relationship where children are raised by their biological parents. In any other relationship, the child must be removed from at least one natural parent, perhaps two, before being adopted by her new parent(s). This does not diminish any child’s inherent dignity, a fact the City presumably recognizes by extending benefits to their employees’ children regardless of the employees’ marital status. But it does explain why the State might choose to direct resources to opposite-sex couples.”

According to the Dallas Morning News, in 2012, while running for the Texas Supreme Court against then-Justice David Medina, Justice Devine allegedly told two Houston lawyers that “I can beat a guy with a Mexican last name.”

According to Texas Monthly, Devine, who is an anti-abortion activist, released a video in 2008 detailing John’s wife Nubia’s life-threatening pregnancy.

“It documents the birth of his seventh child, Elizabeth, which his wife carried to term despite the fact that the fetus had a condition likely to kill her,” Emily DePrang of the Texas Observer write, notes the Texas Monthly. “She survived, and the baby died an hour later. The video opens, ‘What if your beliefs were so powerful, they allowed you to fearlessly risk your life for the life of your unborn child?’ and concludes, ‘Though Elizabeth died only an hour after she was born, her life began at conception.’”

Sources: Slate, Dallas Morning News, Texas Monthly / Photo Credit: John Devine For Supreme Court via Texas Monthly