Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton could have to answer questions under oath in a lawsuit that prompted his impeachment last year.
In a one-sentence order issued Friday evening, Texas鈥檚 Third Court of Appeals Paxton鈥檚 challenge to a lower court order requiring him to be deposed in a lawsuit brought by a group of former top deputies.
The Court, which has a Democratic majority, also denied Paxton鈥檚 petition to enforce a settlement agreement with the former employees.
Friday鈥檚 ruling means Paxton and three of his aides will have to participate in a deposition in the case. However, he鈥檚 likely to appeal the decision to the Texas Supreme Court.
Paxton鈥檚 office didn鈥檛 immediately return a request for comment.
Blake Brickman, Ryan Vassar, Mark Penley, and David Maxwell were all working for Paxton in 2020 when they reported their boss to the FBI. The four men of abusing his office to help a political donor.
Shortly after, they filed a lawsuit alleging wrongful termination.
In response to Friday鈥檚 ruling, Tom Nesbitt, Brickman鈥檚 attorney, told The Texas Newsroom the decision is 鈥渁nother court rejecting Ken Paxton鈥檚 effort to 鈥� deny accountability for his own grimey conduct.鈥�
Nesbitt said he expects Paxton to appeal, adding 鈥渢here鈥檚 no limit to the amount of taxpayer money Ken Paxton will try to spend to continue to buy delay.鈥�
In February of 2023, both parties for $3.3 million that included an apology from Paxton for calling them 鈥渞ogue employees鈥� in a news release.
However, the Texas Legislature decided to not appropriate the funds to pay the settlement.
Instead, the Texas House of Representatives into the whistleblower claims that resulted , the first one in over 40 years.
The Texas Senate of all impeachment charges in September.
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