Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) will be required to go through an ethics litigation battle by the state bar due to a lawsuit he brought challenging the 2020 election results in multiple battleground states, a judge ordered on Friday.
Through a court ruling made visible on Monday, it was revealed Judge Casey Blair denied Paxton’s efforts to dismiss his case on jurisdictional grounds last week. The judge said his ruling was not based on the merits of the case.
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Blair’s ruling marks a legal setback for Paxton, who had argued state attorney ethics regulators’ complaint violated the state constitution’s separation of powers provisions.
The Texas State Bar filed the lawsuit against Paxton in state court last May, though Paxton revealed in March that he was expecting the complaint ahead of its filing. The lawsuit argues Paxton made “dishonest” statements in a sweeping lawsuit that sought to challenge the 2020 general election votes in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
The complaint stems from a group of more than a dozen lawyers and Lawyers Defending American Democracy, a nonprofit organization. Punishments if the complaint succeeds may include suspension or disbarment.
In 2020, Paxton’s election challenge was thrown out by the Supreme Court, writing that “Texas has not demonstrated a judicially cognizable interest in the manner in which another State conducts its elections.”
Paxton’s attorneys maintain the state bar’s lawsuit is tied to his “performance of his official duties” and that seeking to punish him “is tantamount to a judicial veto over the exercise of executive discretion.”
Last year, he alleged the timing of the lawsuit was strategic given his primary election contest against George P. Bush. “They’ve intentionally waited a year and a half after my Supreme Court challenge — right in the middle of an election — to do it,” Paxton said in a statement.
Paxton’s disputes with the state bar became even more inflamed after reports emerged that he was barring his staffers from speaking at events hosted by state attorney regulators.
In a separate lawsuit, a Texas judge dismissed a similar ethics complaint against Paxton aide Brent Webster last year, who was also accused of making “dishonest” statements in challenging the 2020 election results. An appeal is pending in that case.
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Paxton previously said he “completely” stands by the failed challenge to the 2020 election results.
The Washington Examiner contacted the Texas State Bar and Paxton’s office.
