Attorney General Ken Paxton, seething after the State Bar of Texas filed suit against him for his false claims presented to the U.S. Supreme Court about the 2020 presidential election, has turned to the Legislature to protect his behind. Not only did Paxton make false claims to the Supreme Court, he tried to nullify the elections in four other states, something for which no state has the authority or jurisdiction to do. He is also accused of not abiding by the U.S. Constitution.
Paxton has found some friends in the House who would strip the State Bar, which regulates attorney conduct and applies a code of ethics to Texas lawyers, of the power to investigate complaints received from lawyers, judges, and members of the public. Instead, the Bar would be required to dismiss them as inquiries. No one should be above the law, no matter how much Paxton wants to be.
HB-5010 by Rep. Mike Schofield (R-Katy) is author of this early personal Christmas present to Paxton and hands a chunk of coal to the public by stripping it of the ability to hold lawyers accountable.
Many times, a lawyer’s pattern of misconduct and outright theft of client funds is first identified by fellow lawyers and court personnel. If HB-5010 is enacted, future complaints would never receive any form of investigation by the State Bar; and clients would be stripped of recourse. Oftentimes, the staff of an offending lawyer is the first to know of serious lawyer misconduct. Like judges and other members of the public, those complaints must be taken seriously and receive an initial investigation. HB-5010 would block that and stop it in this track. Simply put, HB-5010 is a travesty of justice.
Nor could egregious and ill-founded interference with public elections by lawyers, as we saw in 2020 by Sidney Powell and Paxton, be reviewed under HB-5010.
No other licensing organization in Texas is prohibited from investigating matters based on written complaints. See https://www.tmb.state.tx.us/page/complaints.
This is nothing but a sweet carrot to Paxton. Even if the current State Bar lawsuit against him would result in the loss of his law license, it would not affect his ability to be Attorney General. He just wants a personal gift so that public scrutiny cannot see how outrageous his conduct is or might be.
The State Bar of Texas is strongly opposed to the legislation (as are most of my colleagues), and the SBOT executive director Trey Apffel testified before the House Committee on the Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence against the legislation. The Committee approved HB-5010 in a split vote.
Contrary to what Rep. Scofield says, there is absolutely no taxpayer cost (not a cent) involved in State Bar disciplinary proceedings. All the attorneys in the State Bar together pay the costs of disciplinary and ethical oversight.
(For further information or comment, please contact Jim Harrington, retired founder of the Texas Civil Rights Project at jim.harrington.austin@gmail.com)
Paxton is nothing if not a slimy bottom-feeder. The way he slithered out his garage side door into The back door of his wife’s waiting SUV to avoid being served a subpoena is one example of his sneakily dubious behaviour. I don’t believe in either heaven or hell, but my friends think I will land in the latter. If so, I’ll be glad to hold the door for Paxton when he joins me.