Paxton Leads 15 States In Amicus Brief Defending Free Speech And Due Process For Students

Staff Report

Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton is the lawyer for the State of Texas and is charged by the Texas Constitution to:

• defend the laws and the Constitution of the State of Texas
• represent the State in litigation
• approve public bond issues

To fulfill these responsibilities, the Office of the Attorney General serves as legal counsel to all boards and agencies of state government, issues legal opinions when requested by the Governor, heads of state agencies, and other officials and agencies as provided by Texas statutes.

The Texas AG sits as an ex-officio member of state committees and commissions and defends challenges to state laws and suits against both state agencies and individual employees of the State.

Many Texans look to the Office of the Attorney General for guidance with disputes and legal issues.

The agency receives hundreds of letters, phone calls, and visits each week about crime victims’ compensation, child support, abuse in nursing homes, possible consumer fraud, and other topics.

To find out more about the Texas Attorney General, visit the official website at https://texasattorneygeneral.gov/.

AG Paxton Files Second Amicus Brief Defending Student Rights to Free Speech and Due Process

AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton led 15 states in an amicus brief filed in the United States District Court in the Southern District of New York, defending the Department of Education’s reaffirmation of Title IX’s commitment to protecting students from actual harassment while upholding free speech and fair process.

The Department of Education’s “Final Rule” bolsters the anti-discrimination purposes of Title IX without infringing free speech or due process rights.

“The Constitution applies to every American, and the Department of Education’s ‘Final Rule’ provides robust protection for individual rights where previous regulations and guidance failed. The Supreme Court has long recognized that students subject to disciplinary proceedings are entitled to due process,” said Attorney General Paxton. “Academic institutions cannot unlawfully deprive students of their constitutional rights to free speech, due process, or fair trial.”

Without safeguards, academic institutions can and have eschewed due process and imposed life-altering consequences on students without affording them the opportunity to defend themselves.

The vast majority of colleges and universities currently deny students the right to present evidence or cross-examine witnesses, and less than half require that fact-finders be impartial during investigations.

Read a copy of the amicus brief here.

AG Paxton Defends Mississippi Law Limiting Abortion After 15 Weeks

AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the United States Supreme Court on behalf of Texas and 17 other States supporting a Mississippi law prohibiting non-emergency abortions past the 15^th week of pregnancy.

“Abortion is not just another routine and victimless procedure. At 15 weeks, the fetus can feel the pain of being ripped apart during an abortion, and later-term abortions are proven to pose a greater risk to women’s health,” said Attorney General Paxton. “Three out of four Americans agree that abortion should be restricted after the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. The Mississippi Legislature enacted this law in accordance with the beliefs of its constituents and the precedents of the United States Supreme Court. It should be upheld.”

In March 2018, Mississippi enacted the Gestational Age Act, which was declared unconstitutional by a U.S. District Court despite legislative findings that an unborn baby can sense stimulation from the outside world and has developed all basic physiological functions at just 12 weeks.

Read a copy of the amicus brief here.

Attorney General Ken Paxton Issues Guidance to Religious Private Schools for Fall Reopenings

AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a guidance letter to religious private schools in Texas, informing them that local public health orders attempting to restrict their reopenings violate the United States and Texas Constitutions and the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Moreover, local orders seeking to restrict the reopening of religious private schools or institutions are inconsistent with Governor Abbott’s executive orders, and therefore, are invalid.

“As the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed just last week, there are robust constitutional and statutory protections unique to religious individuals and communities, specifically including religious private schools,” said Attorney General Paxton. “In accordance with the protections granted by the First Amendment and Texas law, this guidance allows religious private schools to determine for themselves when to reopen free from any government mandate or interference.”

Read a copy of the letter here.

AG Paxton Leads 15 States in Amicus Brief Defending Free Speech and Due Process for Students

AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton led 15 states in an amicus brief filed with the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, urging the court to allow the Department of Education to reaffirm Title IX’s commitment to protecting students from actual harassment while respecting free speech and fair process.

The Department of Education’s “Final Rule” bolsters the anti-discrimination purposes of Title IX without infringing free speech or due process rights.

“Academic institutions cannot deprive students of their constitutional rights to free speech, due process, or fair trial. The Final Rule provides robust protection for individual rights where previous regulations and guidance failed,” said Attorney General Paxton. “The Supreme Court has long recognized that students subject to disciplinary proceedings are entitled to due process, as is every American citizen.”

Without safeguards, academic institutions can and have eschewed due process and imposed life-altering consequences on students without affording them the opportunity to defend themselves.

The vast majority of colleges and universities currently deny students the right to present evidence or cross-examine witnesses, and less than half require that fact-finders be impartial during investigations.

Read a copy of the amicus brief here.   

AG Paxton Applauds Dismissal of Lawsuit Against Order of Candidates on Ballots

AUSTIN – Attorney General Paxton applauded the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas for dismissing a case in which voter Rachel Miller, joined by the Texas Democratic Party, the DNC, the DSCC, and the DCCC, erroneously argued against a Texas election law that governs the order in which candidates appear on the ballot.

In this order, the court ruled that ballot order does not prevent any citizens from voting and does not affect a candidate’s chances of winning an election.

“I applaud the court for dismissing this case and preserving Texas election law,” said Attorney General Paxton. “The Ballot Order Statute clearly operates within the law. I will continue working tirelessly to ensure that our election laws are followed properly and our democratic process operates safely, freely, and fairly.”

In 1963, the Texas Legislature enacted Senate Bill 61, also known as the Ballot Order Statute, which requires that candidates be arranged on ballots “in descending order of the number of votes received statewide by each party’s candidate for governor in the most recent gubernatorial general election, beginning on the left with the party whose candidate received the highest number of votes.”

Read a copy of the order here.

AG Paxton: Court Affirms OAG Authority to Prosecute Felony Election Law Violations

AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton announced that the First Court of Appeals in Texas reversed a district court decision that quashed one count of an indictment against Zena Collins Stephens for tampering with a government record, which is a state jail felony.

The court also agreed that the Office of the Attorney General has the authority, granted by the Texas Legislature, to prosecute violations of all election laws.

“I applaud the Court of Appeals for recognizing that no one is above the law, and my office operates fully within its authority when holding those who violate election laws accountable,” said Attorney General Paxton. “Our election laws were established to protect the right of Texans to govern themselves through their elected representatives and to ensure fair and transparent elections, and it is the responsibility of my office to enforce those protections. I will continue to fight for transparent, fair elections.”

The case initially came to the attention of state law enforcement officials when the offenses were discovered during an unrelated federal investigation and forwarded to the Texas Rangers for further investigation.

Read a copy of the opinion here.

AG Paxton Defends Humane Treatment of Fetal Remains

AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a letter brief with the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit addressing the impact of a recent decision from the United States Supreme Court that held unconstitutional a Louisiana law requiring abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital.

The Fifth Circuit is currently considering a challenge to a Texas law requiring the humane treatment of fetal remains through interment or scattering of ashes. Abortion providers sued the State, seeking an injunction that permits them to treat the remains of unborn children as medical waste that is incinerated and placed in a landfill.

But they have yet to provide any evidence that this law imposes a burden on women or prevents access to abortion.

“The abortion industry will go to extraordinary lengths to obscure the fundamental reality that the child in the womb is a human being. The requirement to treat the remains of unborn children with dignity and respect would do nothing to affect the availability of abortion in Texas,” said Attorney General Paxton. “The Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized that States have an interest in the lives of the unborn, and this Texas law serves to honor their dignity rather than treat them as medical waste.”

Today’s letter brief also asserts that abortion providers lack standing to sue on behalf of what they imagine their patients’ subjective beliefs to be and that the humane disposition of fetal remains does not create an obstacle to abortion access.

Last year, the Supreme Court upheld a similar Indiana fetal-remains law, stating that the State had “legitimate interest in proper disposal of fetal remains,” and the humane disposition of remains is directly and rationally related to that interest.

Read a copy of the letter brief here. 

Request for Opinion

Official Request RQ-0364-KP
Whether subsection 38.001(f) of the Education Code and Title 25, section 97.62 of the Administrative Code allows school districts, during an epidemic, to exclude students who decline vaccinations for reasons of conscience even when such vaccinations are unrelated to the epidemic.

Date Received
Monday, July 20, 2020

Official Requestor
The Honorable James White
Chair, House Committee on Corrections
Texas House of Representatives
Post Office Box 2910
Austin, Texas 78768-2910

Notification of Opinion

Notification of Opinion RQ-0329-KP
Whether Rider 52 to the Higher Education Coordinating Board’s appropriation in the General Appropriations Act allows students to qualify for financial assistance through the Program to Encourage Certification to Teach Bilingual Education, English as a Second Language, or Spanish by taking an exam comparable to the State Board for Educator
Certification Bilingual Target Language Proficiency Test or by passing a practice exam.

Official Opinion KP-0320
A court is unlikely to conclude that institutions of higher education may use passage of other exams for comparable programs or passage of a State Board for Educator Certification Bilingual Target Language Proficiency Test practice exam to meet the grant award requirement in Rider 52 that qualified students pass the State Board for Educator Certification Bilingual Target Language Proficiency Test.

Request for Opinion

Official Request RQ-0365-KP
Application of section 552.153 of the Government Code to investment information published in a media source of general circulation

Date Received
Friday, July 17, 2020

Official Requestor
Mr. Brian K. Guthrie
Executive Director
Teacher Retirement System of Texas
1000 Red River Street
Austin, Texas 78701-2698

Request for Opinion

Official Request RQ-0363-KP
Extension of filing deadlines for elections postponed pursuant to the Governor’s proclamation allowing for the postponement of the May 2020 local elections.

Date Received
Friday, July 3, 2020

Official Requestor
The Honorable Mayes Middleton
Co-Chair, Joint Interim Committee to Study a Coastal Barrier System
Texas House of Representatives
Post Office Box 2910
Austin, Texas 78768-2910