Attorney General Ken Paxton鈥檚 office wants the Texas Supreme Court to throw out a State Bar ethics complaint against him 鈥� two weeks after the court
Seven out of the nine justices ruled Dec. 31 that First Assistant Attorney General Brent Webster could not be disciplined for allegedly making false claims about the 2020 presidential election results in a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Solicitor General Aaron L. Nielson to the high court Monday that because the commission鈥檚 complaint against Paxton was closely related to the complaint against Webster, Paxton鈥檚 suit should also be dismissed.
鈥淭he Commission鈥檚 petition against the Attorney General in this case is based on the same legal theories and underlying facts as鈥攁nd therefore materially identical to鈥攖he one filed against the First Assistant in Webster,鈥� Nielson wrote.
Paxton鈥檚 office filed a lawsuit in December 2020 on behalf of the state calling the validity of President Joe Biden's 2020 election win into question. He argued changes to election statutes in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin during the COVID-19 pandemic were unconstitutional. The suit also alleged voters in majority Democratic jurisdictions were treated more favorably.
The U.S. Supreme Court quickly .
The State Bar then for asking the U.S. high court to block the election result based on what it said were false claims of fraud. The commission had sued Webster days prior.
The Bar's disciplinary arm, the Commission for Lawyer Discipline, alleged Paxton misrepresented facts of the election with claims unsupported by evidence. The commission accused Paxton of professional misconduct, which violates the bar鈥檚 rules. The Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas upheld the State Bar鈥檚 suit.
In Webster鈥檚 case, the Commission for Lawyer Discipline took it upon itself to attempt to discipline Webster when the U.S. Supreme Court 鈥� the court that heard the election lawsuit 鈥� did not and didn鈥檛 ask the commission to do so. It also intrudes upon the attorney general鈥檚 constitutional authority to both file petitions in court and assess the propriety of the claims he makes, the justices ruled.
At the time, Paxton called the State Bar's complaints against himself and Webster "baseless" and "political retaliation."
"The Texas State Bar attempted to punish us for fighting to secure our national elections but we did not and will not ever back down from doing what is right," Paxton said in a statement.
In his letter, Nielson wrote the Fifth Court of Appeals 鈥渃ommitted all of the same errors鈥� in reviewing the case as the Eighth Court of Appeals in El Paso did in Webster鈥檚 case 鈥� hence why Paxton鈥檚 suit should be dismissed.
The dissenting justices 鈥� Justice Jeff Boyd and Justice Debra Lehrmann 鈥� said in their opinion in Webster's case that the majority's opinion showed "disdain or distrust" for the commission's ability to discipline lawyers.
The State Bar of Texas had no comment. The Attorney General's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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