A state district court judge ruled in favor of El Paso and Travis counties criminal justice leaders, issuing a temporary injunction stopping the Texas attorney general from forcing prosecutors to turn over confidential records.
“This decision prevents a massive and unconstitutional overreach by the Attorney General,” El Paso County Attorney Christina Sanchez said in a statement. “It protects victims’ privacy, spares our communities from unfunded mandates, and preserves our ability to focus on public safety.”
Judge Catherine A. Mauzy of the 419th Civil District Court granted the temporary injunction Friday, June 20, during a hearing in Travis County.
The ruling came after Sanchez, El Paso District Attorney James Montoya, along with Travis County Attorney Delia Garza and Travis County District Attorney José P. Garza, filed a lawsuit May 16, against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and his office over new rules he created ordering county attorneys and district attorneys in several counties to turn over “entire case files” of criminal cases handled by the elected officials’ offices.
Fort Bend and Williamson counties, and Dallas, Bexar, and Harris counties also filed lawsuits. Mauzy consolidated the three lawsuits.
Paxton’s new rules required district and county attorneys in Texas’ largest counties to “submit sweeping reports that included full criminal case files — containing confidential records, privileged communications and sensitive data about victims, witnesses, and defendants,” Sanchez and Montoya said in a joint news release.
The new rules also would have created a heavy financial burden for the already understaffed and underfunded offices, the lawsuit states.
“This ruling confirms that Ken Paxton’s unilateral attempt to impose unnecessary reporting requirements on local prosecutors is not only poor public policy — wasting time and resources better spent prosecuting cases — but also unconstitutional and unlawful under Texas law,” Montoya said in a statement.
The rules created by Paxton, a Republican, focused on 13 counties, most with Democratic leadership, with more than 400,000 residents. The rules were set to go into effect June 30.
The temporary injunction will remain in effect until the case goes to trial on Dec. 8. The Texas Attorney General’s Office filed a notice of appeal Friday, June 27, to overturn the injunction, Travis County court records show. The appeal will be heard by Texas’ Fifteenth Court of Appeals.
AG officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Judge: Rules likely violate the Texas Constitution
Paxton issued the new rules in March, claiming the rules were in order to “demand greater transparency” from elected officials and “will assist citizens in determining whether their local elected officials are inadequately prosecuting certain categories of crime, releasing dangerous criminals back into the community, engaging in selective prosecution, or otherwise failing to uphold their obligations.”
Paxton threatened to dismiss any prosecutors refusing to follow the new rules.
Paxon has no authority under state or federal law to control what cases and how the cases are handled by prosecutors, the lawsuit argued. Paxton is violating the Texas Constitution’s separation of powers by issuing the rules, the lawsuit states.
In her ruling, Mauzy agreed with the criminal justice leaders, stating it is likely Paxton’s rules violate the Texas Constitution.
“Plaintiffs are likely to prevail after a trial on the merits of their claims,” the ruling states. “Texas Government Code Section 41.006 does not confer any administrative rulemaking authority on the OAG (Office of the Attorney General) and the Challenged Rules are therefore invalid.”
The judge added, “the Challenged Rules violate the Separation of Powers Clause of the Constitution because they permit the Executive Branch (the OAG) to interfere with Judicial Branch officers’ performance of their prosecutorial duties.”
While Mauzy said the rules are likely a violation, she did not make a final ruling and ordered the lawsuit to move forward to trial.
Aaron Martinez covers the criminal justice system for the El Paso Times. He may be reached at amartinez1@elpasotimes.com or on X/Twitter @AMartinezEPT.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Judges rules in favor of El Paso criminal justice leaders in lawsuit against Texas AG
Reporting by Aaron Martinez, El Paso Times / El Paso Times
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