A coalition of Democrat prosecutors is challenging Attorney General Ken Paxton’s power to demand reports from local district and county attorneys, claiming it is unconstitutional and burdensome.
The trial court recently agreed with the plaintiffs, issuing a permanent injunction that blocked the rules from being enforced. The injunction is currently being considered by the Fifteenth Court of Appeals in Austin.
Background
At the center of the dispute is a set of reporting rules Paxton’s office instituted in 2025, which mandated initial, quarterly, and annual reports related to criminal matters that were in the interest of the state. The rules set forth the time, form, and content of materials that district and county attorneys serving populations of 400,000 or more must report to the Attorney General.
Before the rules took effect on April 2, 2025, three Democrat prosecutors filed a lawsuit seeking to block the new rules from being enforced.
Plaintiffs include Travis County Attorney Delia Garza, Dallas County Criminal District Attorney John Creuzot, and Fort Bend County District Attorney Brian Middleton—all Democrats.
They argued that state officials “may not adopt rules without express authority granted by the Constitution or the Legislature. Yet that is what the Attorney General did here.”
“The Challenged Rules establish an unprecedented executive-branch regulatory regime over select large-county prosecutors. District and county attorneys are officers of the judicial branch, not the executive branch,” the plaintiffs claimed.
Paxton’s office responded, claiming that “[s]ince at least 1879, the Legislature has empowered the Attorney General to obtain reports from district and county attorneys about criminal matters and the interests of the State.”
Specifically, under Texas Government Code 41.006, the legislature authorized the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) to set rules establishing the times and form that such reporting will occur.
Paxton claims this is what he did in 2025—establishing rules to “ensure fair notice, proper submissions, and to avoid ad hoc information requests.”
Regarding the plaintiffs’ claims that the rules are burdensome, Paxton noted that prosecutors are given flexibility for compliance.
“For example, prosecutors need not provide an initial report if they submit an affidavit stating that they cannot submit the relevant material because it was the exclusive product of a previous district or county attorney, the material is not reflective of the prosecutor’s current policies, or that the relevant material was discarded under a previous, bonafide document-retention policy,” reads the brief.
The OAG may waive any of the reporting requirements “if a reporting entity demonstrates that compliance would impose an undue hardship.” Paxton may also extend reporting deadlines on a case-by-case basis if the reporting entity can establish good cause for not meeting the deadline.
Rules Blocked
Before the rules could take effect, Travis County District Judge Catherine Mauzy granted a temporary injunction, blocking Paxton’s office from enforcing them while the case proceeded on the merits.
This decision was affirmed by the Fifteenth Court of Appeals in Austin, upholding the injunction. Paxton’s office immediately appealed to the Supreme Court of Texas.
Before the Court had a chance to rule, the trial court issued a final judgement on the merits—granting a permanent injunction to block the rules from being enforced. Paxton’s office appealed this decision to the Fifteenth Court.
Because the temporary injunction was still being appealed in the Supreme Court of Texas, both parties filed a joint motion for dismissal—since it had been effectively superseded by the permanent injunction.
Last week, the Court granted the motion and vacated the temporary injunction—dismissing that appeal as moot.
The Fifteenth Court is now considering whether to uphold or reverse the trial court’s permanent injunction. The court is composed entirely of Republican judges.
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