A roughly three-year legal process may result in the Texas Supreme Court calling on Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton to turn over their emails and text messages.
Earlier this week, the state's highest court heard oral arguments in a case involving American Oversight, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit watchdog group, and two of Texas' top lawmakers.
American Oversight, which describes itself as a nonprofit organization that advances truth, accountability, and democracy by enforcing the public's right to government records, filed a lawsuit in Travis County District Court in June 2022.
The group alleged the state did not release all responsive, nonconfidential records it requested of communications from Abbott and Paxton's offices related to the Jan. 6 insurrection and the elementary school shooting in Uvalde.
Abbott's office did hand over 100 pages of text messages sent or received by the governor between January 2021 and early February 2022—but most of the correspondence was redacted because of information related to "official business." The Open Records Division said other information was exempt because of "pending litigation, competitive business advantage, attorney-client privilege, policymaking processes and homeland security."
Similarly, Paxton's office released a series of responsive records to comply with American Oversight's request, including emails from Paxton or the solicitor general between Jan. 6 2021, and Jan. 8 2021, and emails from Paxton's unofficial email to his official email, chief of staff or deputy chief of staff from April 2020 to early August 2021.
Text messages Paxton sent or received "pertaining to official business" since early November 2020 were also sent in response to a request the group filed in May 2022. The attorney general's office claimed the rest of the correspondence was protected under attorney-client privilege.
Abbott and Paxton's offices told the nonprofit group that they found no responsive public documents for emails and text messages between officials in the governor or attorney general's offices and gun groups between late May 2022 and early June 2022.
The government challenged the Texas Supreme Court's authority to hear the case, but the district and appellate courts approved the case's move to the state's highest court. The court has not yet issued a ruling on the matter.
https://www.chron.com/politics/article/abbott-paxton-emails-texts-20179451.php
