Webster v. Commission for Lawyer Discipline

Texas Supreme Court held that a disciplinary complaint collaterally accusing the first-assistant state attorney general of making misrepresentations in a petition filed in the U.S. Supreme Court alleging 2020 election “irregularities” violated separation-of-powers principles. While the judicial branch (and the lawyer discipline commission derivatively) has the power to enforce compliance with conduct rules, the attorney general (and his first assistant derivatively) has exclusive authority to assess the propriety of filing suit and of the representations that form the basis of the petition. If the contents of the pleadings are objectionable, permitting the court in which they are filed to scrutinize the contents and discipline the attorney general’s office fully accommodates all branches’ legitimate interests. But a disciplinary complaint arising outside the litigation in which the challenged statements were made, “improperly invade[s] the executive branch’s prerogatives and risk[s] the politicization and thus the independence of the judiciary.”