Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton can’t outrun that subpoena to testify in an abortion case, after all. After Paxton fled a court's process server by sending his wife out to get the car started and ready for a quick getaway, then bolting into the car himself before he could be served, he got U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman to quash that subpoena. But Pitman reversed himself and will require Paxton to testify.
It sounds like Pitman isn’t too happy with Paxton, either. In his Tuesday order for Paxton to testify, he wrote that he had quashed the subpoena “on the assumption that counsel for Paxton had made candid representations to the Court … only to learn later that Paxton failed to disclose Plaintiffs’ repeated emails attempting to inquire as to whether Paxton could testify,” The Texas Tribune reports.
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The case Paxton so desperately doesn’t want to testify in is a lawsuit brought by abortion funds trying to ensure that they won’t face civil or criminal penalties for helping Texans leave the state for abortions. Paxton’s testimony is important because his public statements indicate that he does think abortion funds could be prosecuted for that work.
“The Court will not sanction a scheme where Paxton repeatedly labels his threats of prosecution as real for the purposes of deterrence and as hypothetical for the purposes of judicial review,” Pitman wrote in his order.
Paxton has pointed out that he, as attorney general, can’t bring criminal charges—only district and county attorneys can do that. But he’s also said his office would “assist any local prosecutor who pursues criminal charges” on the kind of work that abortion funds do. And, asked about corporations that have offered to pay expenses for employees who need to go out of state to obtain abortions, Paxton said, “We’re going to be looking at whether the language covers at least the civil side, and that’s obviously what we can deal with. These penalties could even be for corporations, over $100,000 per violation. So we’re looking at that literally as we speak.”
Then state lawyers insist that the abortion funds’ lawsuit is unnecessary because, “for the most part,” they wouldn’t be in danger of civil penalties, and that it’s “unreasonable” for abortion funds and their donors and staff to act on the fear that they might face penalties. This is the conflict in official statements that Pitman wants Paxton to answer about.
The judge also wasn’t buying Paxton’s claims that he’s just too busy to testify. “It is challenging to square the idea that Paxton has time to give interviews threatening prosecutions but would be unduly burdened by explaining what he means to the very parties affected by his statements,” he wrote. “The burden faced by Plaintiffs—the effective cessation of many core operations—outweighs the burden of testimony faced by Paxton.”
Paxton is no stranger to dodging courts. Seven years ago, he was indicted on felony securities fraud charges and has yet to stand trial.
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It sounds like Pitman isn’t too happy with Paxton, either. In his Tuesday order for Paxton to testify, he wrote that he had quashed the subpoena “on the assumption that counsel for Paxton had made candid representations to the Court … only to learn later that Paxton failed to disclose Plaintiffs’ repeated emails attempting to inquire as to whether Paxton could testify,” The Texas Tribune reports.
RELATED STORY: A gutless Ken Paxton tries to preen after bravely fleeing from a court's process server
The case Paxton so desperately doesn’t want to testify in is a lawsuit brought by abortion funds trying to ensure that they won’t face civil or criminal penalties for helping Texans leave the state for abortions. Paxton’s testimony is important because his public statements indicate that he does think abortion funds could be prosecuted for that work.
“The Court will not sanction a scheme where Paxton repeatedly labels his threats of prosecution as real for the purposes of deterrence and as hypothetical for the purposes of judicial review,” Pitman wrote in his order.
Paxton has pointed out that he, as attorney general, can’t bring criminal charges—only district and county attorneys can do that. But he’s also said his office would “assist any local prosecutor who pursues criminal charges” on the kind of work that abortion funds do. And, asked about corporations that have offered to pay expenses for employees who need to go out of state to obtain abortions, Paxton said, “We’re going to be looking at whether the language covers at least the civil side, and that’s obviously what we can deal with. These penalties could even be for corporations, over $100,000 per violation. So we’re looking at that literally as we speak.”
Then state lawyers insist that the abortion funds’ lawsuit is unnecessary because, “for the most part,” they wouldn’t be in danger of civil penalties, and that it’s “unreasonable” for abortion funds and their donors and staff to act on the fear that they might face penalties. This is the conflict in official statements that Pitman wants Paxton to answer about.
The judge also wasn’t buying Paxton’s claims that he’s just too busy to testify. “It is challenging to square the idea that Paxton has time to give interviews threatening prosecutions but would be unduly burdened by explaining what he means to the very parties affected by his statements,” he wrote. “The burden faced by Plaintiffs—the effective cessation of many core operations—outweighs the burden of testimony faced by Paxton.”
Paxton is no stranger to dodging courts. Seven years ago, he was indicted on felony securities fraud charges and has yet to stand trial.
RELATED STORIES:
Texas AG does an OJ Simpson and flees in a truck to avoid being served subpoenas
Texas AG Ken Paxton celebrates end of abortion rights with mandatory 'pro-life' holiday