(The Center Square) – Another lawsuit has been filed alleging two Senate impeachment rules and a July 17 gag order violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
The first lawsuit was filed last week by Houston-based attorney Jared Woodfill in Travis County on behalf of Harris County resident Dr. Steven Hotze, Collin County resident Allesan Paige Streeter, Sutton County resident and former Texas House Rep. Molly White, and Harris County resident Sam Malone.
On Friday, Woodfill filed the first federal lawsuit over the same rules and gag order alleging they are unconstitutional in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas Victoria Division. The plaintiffs are also Hotze and Streeter as well as Victoria County resident Dr. Richard Mabray. The Texas Senate, the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Austin Osborne, and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick are named as defendants in both lawsuits.
The federal lawsuit seeks declaratory and injunctive relief, asking the court to declare Senate Rules 10 and 31 and Patrick’s July 17 gag order unconstitutional. It also asks the court to issue a temporary restraining order, preliminary and permanent injunction to suspend the two rules and gag order.
Both lawsuits allege of the Senate’s rules governing the impeachment trial that Rule 10 and Rule 31, and Patrick’s July 17 gag order, which prohibits members from discussing the impeachment trial with the public, violate the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Rule 31 also violates the Fourteenth Amendment, they argue, because it bars Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney, the wife of Paxton, from voting in the trial. At the same time, it doesn’t exclude any other senators with “personal or private interests,” citing Article 15, Section 2 and Article 3, Section 22 of the Texas Constitution.
Both lawsuits argue “The Texas Supreme Court has made it clear that Article 3, section 22 is not applicable to an Article 15 proceeding.” Both also argue, “Every senator presiding over General Paxton’s impeachment trial has a bias or partiality for or against General Paxton.”
“Party affiliation alone raises concerns,” the federal complaint states. “Identifying all the ‘private or personal’ interests among senators, the Lieutenant Governor, and General Paxton would consume hundreds of pages.”
The rules and gag order prohibit senators from interacting with their constituents, “effectively silencing the voice of all Texans in this historic process,” the federal complaint states. It also includes as exhibits text messages from elected officials to Hotze saying they can’t talk to him about the impeachment process because of Patrick’s gag order. Violators of the gag order can be found in contempt of court, face up to six months of jail time, or fined up to $500.
They also prevent members of the media from receiving comments to questions about the proceedings. Lt. Gov. Patrick first told reporters, including The Center Square, not to ask him and other senators about the impeachment process at a May 26 event at the Texas Public Policy Foundation prior to the rules or gag order being implemented. He said they wouldn’t respond to requests for comment in order to ensure a fair trial.
By preventing state lawmakers from speaking to their constituents, the federal lawsuit alleges, the Texas Senate rules “violate the well-established principle of ‘one person one vote’ that is repeatedly required by the U.S. Supreme Court and the Fifth Circuit. The Senate rules directly violate this fundamental constitutional principle by fully disenfranchising all of the voters in the district of Sen. Angela Paxton and simultaneously alter the relative representation of every other voter in Texas.”
Streeter, a plaintiff in both lawsuits, alleges that she and all Collin County voters have been disenfranchised by Rule 31. As a result, it violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the requirement of “one person, one vote.”
When asked why it was important that he filed lawsuits in state and federal court, Woodfill told The Center Square, “All Texans should be concerned when their government passes a rule or gag order prohibiting them from speaking with their elected officials about a matter of state-wide importance. Political speech is one of the bedrocks of the First Amendment and we will not allow it to be trampled on by The Texas Senate and their rules relating to the impeachment of General Paxton.”
Hotze also filed a two-page affidavit stating he contacted multiple members of the state legislature who said they couldn’t speak to him or communicate with him about impeachment. Others he contacted didn’t respond.
Hotze, the Texas GOP and millions of Texans who oppose Paxton’s impeachment argue “a few individuals are working to overturn the will of the people,” referring to over 4.2 million voters who reelected Paxton to his third term on Nov. 8, 2022.
Hotze asked the court to grant the injunction to “allow me to communicate with my duly elected representative in the Texas House and Texas Senate.”
The impeachment trial is scheduled to begin Sept. 5.
