The Texas appeals court ruled on Thursday that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton must face an attorney misconduct lawsuit brought by state regulators over a case he initiated challenging the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
The Dallas-based Fifth District Court of Appeals upheld a lower court decision in a 2-1 ruling, stating that Paxton, as the head of the state attorney general’s office, is not exempt from the reach of professional conduct rules for lawyers in the state.
The court concluded that the ethics case against Paxton pertains to his “individual” capacity as a licensed attorney.
Justice Erin Nowell wrote for the majority, stating, “The Disciplinary Rules apply to all lawyers in Texas, specifically including government lawyers such as the attorney general.”
Nowell added, “Subjecting Paxton to disciplinary proceedings does not violate separation of powers; immunizing him does.”
Paxton denies any wrongdoing.
Dishonest statements
Texas state attorney regulators accused Paxton, a Republican, of making “dishonest” statements in a case he filed in 2020 at the Supreme Court supporting Donald Trump’s challenge to his loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
The Texas bar declined to comment, while the Texas attorney general’s office announced plans to appeal to the Texas Supreme Court, denouncing the state bar’s efforts as “partisan political revenge.”
In dissent, Justice Emily Miskel argued that the case against Paxton was impermissibly “based on an executive officer’s discretionary performance of the powers assigned exclusively to him.”
Meanwhile, the Texas Supreme Court is deliberating whether to take up an attorney ethics case involving Paxton’s top deputy, Brent Webster.
He is accused of misconduct for his involvement in the election case.
A Texas appeals court in July revived the bar’s misconduct case against Webster after a lower court dismissal.
The Eighth Court of Appeals in El Paso, in its ruling, stated that the lower court judge incorrectly concluded that Webster’s conduct in office was beyond the jurisdiction of the lawyer discipline commission.
At the Supreme Court level, Republican-led state attorneys general from Florida, Missouri, Indiana, and 15 other states have supported Webster in a friend-of-the-court filing.
They argued that the state bar and the courts were not suitable venues for what they labeled “ultimately a political fight.”
The case is Warren Kenneth Paxton Jr v. Commission for Lawyer Discipline, Court of Appeals, Fifth District of Texas at Dallas, No. 05-23-00128-CV.
