Webster v. Commission for Lawyer Discipline
The Texas Supreme Court will hear an appeal by the state attorney general’s senior-most deputy of a disciplinary complaint accusing him of making misrepresentations in Texas’s failed U.S. Supreme Court challenge to alleged 2020 election “irregularities” in other states. The complaint, filed by the state bar’s discipline commission following an initial grievance from an out-of-state lawyer, includes as asserted misrepresentations allegations in Texas’s briefs that “‘illegal votes’ had been cast that affected the outcome of the election’” and “votes were switched by a glitch with Dominion voting machines.”
According to the deputy, the complaint “amount[s] to no more than a disagreement” by the commission “with the Attorney General’s legal arguments, assessment of the evidence, and ultimate decision to file suit.” He contends that the complaint violates separation-of-powers principles because it interferes with the exclusive control over civil litigation granted to the attorney general by the Texas Constitution.
The commission responds that the bar rules at issue, established by the state high court, are an exercise of the court’s inherent constitutional authority to regulate the practice of law and — because they concern allegations in pleadings, not the decision to file — do not conflict with the attorney general’s discretion to bring suit. Montana and 17 other states have filed an amicus brief asserting that bar discipline will become a new tool for “political control” if the commission prevails.
