The Office of the Attorney General (“OAG”) has filed a petition asking the Supreme Court of Texas to review a Fifth Court of Appeals ruling that has allowed politically motivated lawfare by the State Bar of Texas against the leadership of the OAG to continue.
After Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the State of Texas in response to good-faith concerns of unconstitutional conduct by States during the 2020 presidential election, the State Bar of Texas retaliated by attempting to sanction Attorney General Paxton and First Assistant Attorney General Brent Webster for filing that lawsuit, and it initiated disciplinary actions against them to obtain that result.
The State Bar’s attempt to sanction the Attorney General is an unconstitutional violation of the Texas Constitution’s Separation of Powers Clause and violates his sovereign immunity. Nevertheless, over an erudite dissent, a sharply divided court of appeals permitted the Bar’s lawsuit to go forward. The petition for review requests the Texas Supreme Court to intervene to prevent the State Bar ’s continued abuse of the legal system.
In April 2024, a coalition of seventeen attorneys general from across the nation filed a brief supporting Attorney General Paxton and First Assistant Attorney General Webster and condemning the actions of the State Bar.
To read the filing, click here.