Texas Supreme Court Dismisses State Bar Lawsuit Against Attorney General Ken Paxton

The Texas Supreme Court dismissed the State Bar of Texas’ lawsuit Friday against Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) over his attempts to overturn the 2020 election. The bar requested to dismiss the lawsuit last month after an unfavorable ruling in a similar case.
Jan. 24
Texas State Bar Drops Lawsuit Against AG Ken Paxton For Attempt to Overturn 2020 Election
The State Bar of Texas dropped its lawsuit Wednesday against state Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) over his attempts to overturn the 2020 election results.
The Texas Bar’s Commission for Lawyer Discipline sued Paxton in May 2022 for filing a petition in the U.S. Supreme Court in December 2020 to challenge the presidential election results in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin — four states won by former President Joe Biden. The Supreme Court denied the petition due to lack of standing.
In its lawsuit, the commission argued Paxton was “dishonest” in his petition and that his allegation of fraud involving “illegal votes” and Dominion voting machines “were not supported by any charge, indictment, judicial finding, and/or credible or admissible evidence.”
They also stated that due to Paxton’s actions, the states being targeted were forced to “expend time, money, and resources to respond to the misrepresentations and false statements.”
The commission asked a state court to rule that Paxton engaged in “professional misconduct,” violating Texas’ rules for the state’s attorneys, and issue appropriate sanctions against him.
The State Bar received multiple complaints against him in 2020 and 2021 for his election challenge, prompting an investigation, and ultimately a lawsuit.
The commission filed a similar case against Assistant Attorney General Brent Webster, whom Paxton appointed in 2020, for his involvement in the petition.
That case was eventually appealed to the state Supreme Court, which dismissed the case Dec. 31, stating that by “second-guessing” the contents of the state’s pleadings, “we would improperly invade the executive branch’s prerogatives and risk the politicization and thus the independence of the judiciary,” violating the separation of powers doctrine.
As a result of this ruling, the commission asked the state Supreme Court to dismiss the appeal in the case against Paxton as moot since it “raises identical separation of powers issues” as Webster’s case and informed the Court it would be dropping its lawsuit.
Since his 2020 case, Paxton has filed many other lawsuits threatening democracy and voting rights, especially in the months leading up to the 2024 election.
In September, Paxton sued two Texas counties to prevent officials from using a third-party vendor to help with its voter registration efforts, arguing it would “create confusion, facilitate fraud, undermine confidence in elections.” Two judges denied his requests to block the voter registration efforts in Bexar and Travis counties.
Then, in October, Paxton sued the Biden administration, alleging the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was denying them access to citizenship records needed to maintain their voter rolls. The case remains open.