Update

Webster Texas Supreme Court Brief and Oral Argument - Update

June 28, 2021

Oct 1, 2024

Editorial credit:  Kylie Cooper/The Texas Tribune

As reported previously, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and First Assistant Brent Webster have sought to dismiss, based on separation of powers and sovereign immunity,  State Bar ethics proceedings against each of them for misrepresentations to the U.S. Supreme Court in their lawsuit to overturn the 2020 presidential election. LDAD and 16 distinguished Texas lawyers filed amicus briefs in the respective Courts of Appeals in the Paxton and Webster cases. Both courts rejected the separation of powers and sovereign immunity arguments. In the Webster opinion, the court made several points that LDAD had argued in its brief.

In response to Webster’s appeal of the Court of Appeals ruling in his case, LDAD and the Texas lawyers filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court of Texas supporting the State Bar and providing further arguments rebutting Webster’s position. Our brief argues that, under Texas law, separation of powers is no bar to judicial branch disciplinary proceedings for professional misconduct against a Texas-licensed attorney serving as Attorney General because an Attorney General has no “constitutionally assigned power” to violate Texas’s ethics rules. Further, such disciplinary proceedings are not within sovereign immunity’s purposes of protecting the public treasury and preventing judicial interference with the effective exercise of executive duties.

The case is now pending before the Texas Supreme Court, which heard oral argument on September 12.

LDAD Co-Founder Gershon (Gary) Ratner, who co-authored the briefs, stated: “As a Texas-licensed lawyer, Webster is statutorily subject to disciplinary proceedings for professional misconduct, just like all other Texas-licensed lawyers. As Webster concedes, an Attorney General and his Assistants have no legal authority to violate Texas’s ethics rules. The Texas Supreme Court needs to avoid creating a two-tier system of justice – one for Attorney General’s office lawyers and one for all others.”

Stay Informed —

Be the first to know about LDAD news by following us on LinkedIn or signing up for our newsletter.

featured press