Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton can be disciplined for suit to overturn 2020 election, court says
Source: AP
Updated 2:28 PM EDT, April 19, 2024
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas appeals court has ruled that Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton can face discipline from the state bar association over his failed effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
A disciplinary committee of the State Bar of Texas accused Paxton in 2022 of making false claims of fraud in a lawsuit that questioned President Joe Biden’s victory. On Thursday, a three-judge panel of the 5th District Court of Appeals said Paxton can be sanctioned by the committee because the lawsuit seeks to punish him in his personal capacity as an attorney and not as a public official.
“The focus of the Commission’s allegations is squarely on Paxton’s alleged misconduct — not that of the State,” Judge Erin Nowell, an elected Democrat, wrote in the 2-1 opinion. The lone Republican on the panel, Judge Emily Miskel, was in dissent.
A similar lawsuit was also brought against one of Paxton’s top deputies. Earlier this week, a coalition of state Republican attorneys general urged the Texas Supreme Court to reject efforts by the bar to impose discipline. All nine members of the state’s highest civil court are Republicans.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/texas-attorney-general-2020-election-ae4d4e0ea614b6476c56cf7de2f87d3d
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but avoiding that is not why I am a law abiding citizen. I may be a cranky old woman, but I care about my fellow citizens and nation, so I have signed onto the civil contract.
