Texas AG Paxton Must Face Ethics Suit Over Election Claims

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) will face an ethics lawsuit by a committee of the State Bar over pleadings he made in his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Judge Casey Blair of the 471st Collin County District Court on Monday rejected Paxton’s request to dismiss the case on jurisdictional grounds, saying there was an unspecificed disputed material fact.

The Texas State Bar’s Commission for Lawyer Discipline filed a complaint against him in May 2022. The petition cites four filings Paxton made in December 2020, February 2021, March 2021, and July 2021 to the US Supreme Court seeking injunctions against states where votes in the 2020 presidential election were close.

Paxton made “dishonest” statements in the filings, the complaint here says.

These submissions “misrepresented” the existence of an “outcome-determinative” number of votes in those states, the bar said.

Paxton challenged the committee’s suit in a motion to dismiss saying that the committee was “attempting to usurp” his authority to file civil lawsuits in the state’s name. He said that sovereign immunity bars this lawsuit because his actions were done in an official capacity.

But the committee countered that Texas attorney ethics rules apply to any attorney, regardless of their position, it said.

Paxton’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for the State Bar declined to comment.

The case is Comm’n for Lawyer Discipline v. Paxton, Tex. Dist. Ct., No. 471-02574-2022, ruling filed 1/30/23.