Nice.
An El Paso judge this week temporarily stopped Attorney General Ken Paxton from prosecuting former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s political group, Powered by People, after Paxton moved to block the organization from financially supporting Texas Democrats who left the state.
Judge Annabell Perez of the 41st Judicial District Court issued a temporary restraining order Tuesday barring Paxton from prosecuting O’Rourke’s nonprofit or otherwise initiating or filing legal proceedings aimed at revoking Powered by People’s charter.
The group has been fundraising for Texas Democrats who decamped to Illinois and other states in protest of a proposed GOP congressional map that would net Republicans up to five more seats in the U.S. House.
Powered by People already donated $1 million to the Democrats, whose two-week absence denied the Texas House the minimum number of present members needed to conduct business. Many of those Democrats have since returned to the state, and Gov. Greg Abbott called a subsequent overtime legislative session after the first one ended last week.
Paxton previously secured a temporary injunction blocking O’Rourke from fundraising for the Democrats or spending money to cover their expenses. He then sought to jail O’Rourke, arguing that the El Paso Democrat had violated the court order, which O’Rourke’s attorneys have disputed.
O’Rourke responded by filing his own lawsuit alleging that Paxton was engaging in a “fishing expedition, constitutional rights be damned,” by targeting Powered by People.
[…]
In her order, Perez said it was imperative to “prevent imminent, irreparable injury” but that it was not a ruling on the merits of the case. The order expires in two weeks.
See here and here for some background. I have no idea how this knot will get untangled, but I’m happy to see this result. In fact, one could argue, as Jeremy Wallace outlined, that Beto had already won, at least in the big picture.
Paxton was right that he got a court order stopping O’Rourke’s Powered by People PAC from sending donations directly to state representatives who left the state and covering their potential fines in the Texas House for leaving. But Powered By People said they didn’t do either. Instead of sending money to any individual members, the group sent the money to the caucuses that can then use it as they please, just like any other donation from the public. Those donations are essentially helping Democrats who both fled the state and those who didn’t.
“Powered by People did not make any offers to fundraise or help pay for legislative fines, hotel, and travel expenses in exchange for any political action or restraint,” a court filing from David Mills Wysong of Powered by People stated.
The irony of this, an effect of Texas’s weird campaign finance laws that are routinely exploited by the billionaire wingnut class, is rich. I doubt this will stop Paxton, and I suppose he could eventually wrangle some kind of Moebius strip ruling that makes this activity illegal when Beto does it but not when Tim Dunn does it, but in the short term the money was delivered. Suck on that, Ken.
On a different legal front:
Rep. Nicole Collier, the Democratic state lawmaker who spent Monday night inside the Texas Capitol, is asking a court to let her exit the building, alleging she’s facing “illegal restraint by the government” after she was told she needs a police escort to leave.
The Fort Worth lawmaker and dozens of other Democrats left Texas earlier this month to delay a vote on a GOP-led plan to redraw the state’s congressional map. The Democrats returned to Texas in recent days and they were given state police escorts to ensure they will show up when the state House convenes Wednesday, but Collier refused to sign a “permission slip” to be under escort by the Texas Department of Public Safety. Collier says she slept on the House floor overnight.
Collier told CBS News’ “The Takeout” on Tuesday that several other Democrats “tore up their permission slips” and will join her on the House floor Tuesday night.
“I refuse to comply with this unreasonable, un-American and unnecessary request,” Collier said.
Meanwhile, in a habeas corpus application filed in Austin state court on Monday, lawyers for Collier alleged “illegal confinement.”
The petition says state Rep. Charlie Geren, a Republican who chairs the House Administration Committee, told Collier: “If you leave the Capitol you are subject to arrest.” Collier’s petition does not mention the state police escorts.
Collier’s attorneys argue that’s illegal. They acknowledged that Texas law allows lawmakers who are absent from the Capitol to face civil arrest, but they say state officials have no legal right to detain legislators who are already present at the Capitol to ensure they don’t leave.
“The plain language is clear: a member may be compelled by the Sergeant-at-Arms to attend a legislative session if he or she is physically absent, but no such power is conferred on the Legislature to arrest or otherwise compel a member who is currently present (and not absent) to stay,” the Democrat’s court petition read.
Collier, a seven-term lawmaker and former chair of the Texas Legislative Black Caucus, is asking a judge to order the House Sergeant-at-Arms to “immediately release” her, and to bar the Sergeant-at-Arms from “restraining Representative Collier in any respect.”
See here for the background. Again, I have no idea what will happen – the word “unprecedented” is permanently stamped on my brain these days – but I am excited by the effort. Reform Austin, The 19th, the Trib, and Slate have more.