Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is seeking a temporary restraining order for an El Paso court that blocked his prosecution of former Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s political group. O’Rourke’s PAC funded Texas Democrats who protested the state GOP’s mid-decade redistricting agenda.
Paxton filed an emergency application for the order with a Tarrant County court with jurisdiction over the case, his office said on Thursday. Two days earlier, an El Paso judge temporarily barred Paxton from prosecuting O’Rourke’s Powered by People organization or otherwise filing legal action seeking to revoke the Democratic group’s charter.
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The Republican attorney general wants to prevent the El Paso court from “interfering” with the proceedings against Powered by People.
The organization “has brazenly forum-shopped its way to El Paso County, securing an anti-suit restraining order that purports to muzzle the State from prosecuting its quo warranto claims before this Court,” the emergency application states. “This naked attempt to usurp Tarrant County’s jurisdiction demands immediate action.”
The Tarrant County court previously issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting the former congressman’s nonprofit organization from fundraising to cover the costs of the Texas Democrats, who fled to Illinois and other states. Paxton then moved to jail O’Rourke, arguing he violated the court order. O’Rourke’s lawyers disputed the allegation. The court later expanded its order against the Democrat’s group.
“This Court has dominant jurisdiction as the first-filed proceeding over El Paso’s second-filed case,” Paxton’s filing reads. “To defend its rightful authority, this Court must respond with its own anti-suit injunction. Contrary to [Powered by People’s] public posturing, there are referees in litigation and the rule of law matters. [Powered by People] cannot simply change venues and rewrite the rules because it dislikes this Court’s rulings.”
Paxton launched an investigation into Powered by People earlier this month, alleging the group was scheming with other Democratic political action committees to finance the out-of-state lawmakers. Paxton coined the potentially unlawful payments “Beto Bribes.”
Powered by People donated more than $1 million to the Texas Democrats, who have now returned to the Texas Capitol in Austin for the second special legislative session authorized by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. Despite Democratic opposition, the Texas House moved on Wednesday to approve the redrawn congressional maps in favor of Republicans. The Texas Senate will vote on the matter on Thursday.
Paxton argued that if the Tarrant County court doesn’t act swiftly, Texas would suffer “irreparable harm” in part because there would be “duplicative litigation.”
The filing comes ahead of the Tarrant County court’s temporary injunction hearing set for Sept. 2.
KEN PAXTON WORKING TO PUT BETO O’ROURKE ‘BEHIND BARS’ FOR PAC PAYMENTS TO TEXAS DEMOCRATS
“A biased El Paso judge is threatening to ignite a constitutional crisis in a desperate bid to protect Robert Francis,” Paxton said in a statement.
“The court has no authority to give itself appellate jurisdiction over an independent court hundreds of miles away. I have asked the Tarrant County District Court to protect its lawful jurisdiction in this matter. Beto cannot switch referees nor invent new rules just because he is losing. I will fight to uphold the rule of law and to hold those accountable who violate our laws.”