Staff Reports
In response to the charges that were filed against him, Ken Paxton, the Texas Attorney General, asked the Senate to remove 19 of the articles of impeachment from its website. According to his lawyers, these articles violate the state's prior-term doctrine.
According to their lawyers, these charges were already made before the election of Paxton, and therefore they can't be used as a reason for his removal.
In response to the allegations, the attorneys for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton have asked the court to throw out the articles. They noted that the House admitted in a memo that the alleged acts occurred before the election of the attorney general. According to the rules of the Senate, it can approve the dismissal of these articles before the trial even begins.
Paxton attorneys seek to dismiss 19 articles of impeachment (The Center Square) – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s attorneys filed a motion Monday with the state Senate requesting it to throw out all but one article of impeachment against him, clai…https://t.co/lclCvKGX3E
— The Black Chronicle (@BlackChron) July 31, 2023
In response, Paxton's lawyers also asked the Senate to exclude all of the charges that were made before January 2023 from the proceedings. They cited the same prior-term doctrine. They believe that this notion can be applied to the impeachment process.
Tony Buzbee, one of the attorneys for the attorney general, criticized the articles, labeling them as irrelevant and unsupported. He also noted that the evidence presented by the House managers was not sufficient to support the allegations. In addition, he criticized the witness statements, which he said provided unsupported opinions and speculations about the case against Paxton.
They also noted that the voters of Texas have elected the attorney general for three consecutive elections. His most recent victory occurred right before the House started considering the impeachment articles.
It is not clear how the Senate will react to the motions filed by the attorneys for Ken Paxton. However, they are making a strong case, as the articles of impeachment are full of unsupported and speculative allegations.
