Lawyer Basic Ken Paxton has requested a Texas district court docket choose to jail former Rep. Beto O’Rourke over his fundraising pitches linked to the state’s intensifying redistricting battle.
Paxton’s request accused the Texas Democrat of violating a court docket order that the choose, Tarrant County’s Megan Fahey, issued final week that barred fundraising by O’Rourke and his nonprofit Powered by Folks meant to bankroll the efforts by Texas Democratic lawmakers to derail the redistricting effort.
In help of his declare, he highlighted a comment O’Rourke made at a Saturday rally — a day after Fahey’s order — saying “there are no refs in this game. Fuck the rules.”
However an lawyer for O’Rourke says Paxton’s characterization of O’Rourke’s comment was an “outright lie.” O’Rourke’s remark, she famous, was a reference to the broader nationwide struggle over redistricting — a name for Democratic states to counteract Texas’ redistricting push by endeavor their very own partisan redrawing of political boundaries.
“In their zeal I guess to intimidate a political rival, they are actually lying to the court,” mentioned O’Rourke’s lawyer, Mimi Marziani, who mentioned she would rapidly alert the court docket to the context of O’Rourke’s feedback and her intention to hunt sanctions in opposition to Paxton.
Paxton’s request to jail a political rival comes amid calls by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Paxton and their allies to arrest dozens of Democratic state lawmakers who left Texas to stop Abbott from holding a particular session to go his ultra-partisan redistricting measure — one anticipated to internet Republicans 5 seats in Congress.
Paxton’s movement to carry O’Rourke in contempt accuses him of elevating funds to straight cowl the bills and fines of the handfuls of Texas Democratic lawmakers who bolted from the state to deprive Republicans a quorum to conduct legislative enterprise. Fahey dominated that such fundraising would violate Texas legal guidelines in opposition to misleading practices.
However Marziani emphasised that Fahey’s ruling was particular to elevating funds that straight bankrolled the state lawmakers’ effort, versus normal political fundraising. O’Rourke, in court docket papers, has labeled Paxton’s bid to constrain his political exercise “frivolous” and urged Fahey to switch the case to his residence base of El Paso.
“They have no basis for this lawsuit,” Marziani mentioned.
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