Indicted AG Ken Paxton is not able to unilaterality prosecute alleged voter fraud cases, Texas Court upholds limit.
Posted by
Qale (aka Qale)
Sep 29 '22, 08:30
|
The state’s highest criminal appellate court on Wednesday reaffirmed its ruling finding Attorney General Ken Paxton lacks unilateral authority to prosecute election crimes.
"I share the concerns that citizens have about election law violations. Frankly, I am deeply concerned as well," Judge Scott Walker wrote in a concurring opinion. "The remedy is a constitutional amendment — something the legislature could propose and the citizens could vote to ratify. The remedy is not for the courts to water down the Texas Constitution from the bench. To do so would be a violation of our judicial oath."
Earlier this year, Paxton had launched a pressure campaign to get the Court of Criminal Appeals to reconsider its original 8-1 ruling in December, urging his supporters to flood the court with phone calls and emails demanding a new decision. The ruling held that the attorney general can only get involved in criminal cases when invited by a local prosecutor.
Paxton's attempt to influence the justices was the subject of at least one State Bar complaint against Paxton. The status of that complaint is unclear, as the process is confidential unless there are public sanctions issued by the bar.
In a tweet Wednesday, Paxton agreed with Walker that the onus is now on the Texas Legislature to "right this wrong."
"The CCA's shameful decision means local DAs with radical liberal views have the sole power to prosecute election fraud in TX — which they will never do," Paxton said. "The timing is no accident — this is devastating for the integrity of our upcoming elections."
Paxton has for years tried to position his office as the lead in hunting for voter fraud in Texas. His staff has routinely overstated the number of election fraud cases they're pursuing in Texas by reporting to the Legislature the number of possible criminal charges rather than the number of defendants or cases.
He was also a strong supporter of President Donald Trump's false claims that he won the 2020 election — that December, Paxton filed a petition before the Supreme Court on his behalf seeking to overturn results in four battleground states that did not included Texas. The case was quickly dismissed, and the effort drew professional misconduct complaints and eventually a suit by the State Bar against Paxton that's now before a state district judge in Kaufman County. Paxton also spoke at a "Save America Rally" in support of Trump the morning of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
|
Responses:
|