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Five Texas district attorneys are suing state Attorney General Ken Paxton, challenging new rules that would give his office broad authority to access their office’s case records, according to a new report.
In the two lawsuits filed on Friday, the district attorneys said the rule, in effect since April, is an unconstitutional overreach that violates the separation of powers and would impose unnecessary burdens on county prosecutors, The Texas Tribune reported.
District attorneys in Dallas, Bexar and Harris counties filed one lawsuit while district attorneys in Travis and El Paso counties filed another. Both lawsuits seek to block Paxton from enforcing the rule, arguing that it violates the state constitution and federal law.
The rule created by Paxton’s office applies to counties with at least 400,000 residents, impacting only 13 of Texas’ 254 counties, The Texas Tribune reported. It requires district attorneys to provide all documents or communications produced or received by their offices, including confidential information.
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Five Texas district attorneys are suing state Attorney General Ken Paxton over a new rule that would require them to give Paxton meticulous access to their office’s case records. ((AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
All documents, correspondence and handwritten notes relevant to a case can be subject to review, according to the outlet. Counties must also submit quarterly reports to the attorney general on twelve different subjects, including specific information on indictments of police officers and the number of times indictments were issued for election code violations. Information on internal policies and how funds obtained through civil forfeiture are spent would also need to be turned over under the new rule.
Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot described the rules as a violation of the separation of powers between the executive…
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