| Houston, Texas – The newly created 15th Court of Appeals has upheld a temporary injunction blocking Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s attempt to force local district attorneys to give him sweeping access to their prosecutorial data, marking the second time a court has ruled that Paxton lacks the authority to impose the mandate. The three Greg Abbott-appointed justices agreed that Paxton exceeded his legal authority and left in place an injunction preventing enforcement of the rule, which would have allowed the Attorney General’s Office to demand entire case files, including notes, correspondence, and confidential materials, even in cases that are not being prosecuted. The rule targeted counties with more than 400,000 residents, singling out just a handful of large, urban counties across Texas, and threatened district attorneys with removal from office if they failed to comply. “This is another clear victory for Harris County and for local governments across Texas,” said Harris County Attorney Christian D. Menefee. “Once again, a court has confirmed that Ken Paxton does not have the authority to carry out this plan to look over the shoulder of locally elected officials. State officials like Ken Paxton and Greg Abbott regularly overstep their bounds, and Harris County will continue to fight back every time it does.” Paxton’s rule would have required district attorneys to produce massive amounts of data that would require moving staff time, resources, and taxpayer dollars away from public safety and toward political oversight by the Attorney General’s Office. “Today, justice prevailed over political interference. I commend County Attorney Menefee and his team for standing firm and successfully defending Harris County against unlawful state intrusion,” said Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare. “This decisive victory protects the independence of our prosecutors and ensures they can remain focused on what matters most: holding violent criminals accountable and keeping our community safe.” Jon Fombonne, First Assistant Harris County Attorney, said Paxton’s legal argument was rejected because it relies on authority that simply does not exist. “Ken Paxton tried to stretch a decades-old statute to give himself sweeping oversight powers that the law does not allow,” Fombonne said. “District attorneys across Texas are independently elected and have their own prosecutorial authority. The state cannot sidestep that independence through an administrative rule, and the court rightly shut this down.” This ruling follows an earlier district court decision reaching the same conclusion, reinforcing that Paxton’s effort to expand his authority through rulemaking is unlawful. |