(CN) - Democratic prosecutors are suing to block rules put forth by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that he says are designed to "hold rogue DA's accountable."
The chief prosecutors for five of Texas's most populous counties - Travis County, El Paso County, Dallas County, Bexar County and Harris County - argue in petitions filed Friday in Travis County district courts that Paxton lacks the authority to issue the rules, which they say are overly burdensome and would force prosecutors to illegally turn over protected information, including sensitive details about crime victims.
"The Challenged Rules invade the separation of powers between the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial Branches of Texas government and violate citizens' rights to privacy protected by multiple state and federal statutes," the prosecutors for Travis and El Paso County argue in their petition.
Paxton announced a new policy in late March requiring district and county attorneys representing counties with populations of 400,000 or more to provide regular performance reports to the attorney general. Failing to comply with the reporting requirements qualifies as "official misconduct," the rules say, and could lead to the removal of the non-compliant prosecutor from office.
Paxton said the rules would help Texas residents determine whether their local prosecutors are inadequately prosecuting certain crimes.
"District and County Attorneys have a duty to protect the communities they serve by upholding the law and vigorously prosecuting dangerous criminals," Paxton said in a statement announcing the rules. "In many major counties, the people responsible for safeguarding millions of Texans have instead endangered lives by refusing to prosecute criminals and allowing violent offenders to terrorize law-abiding Texans. This rule will enable citizens to hold rogue DA's accountable."
But the local prosecutors are asking the court to issue temporary and permanent injunctions blocking the rules, which they argue violate separation of powers by interfering with their independence as judicial officers. They also say the rules violate citizens' privacy rights by forcing prosecutors to turn over entire case files, including sensitive information protected by law.
"Plaintiffs reasonably anticipate public awareness of the required turnover of the entire case files in closed and ongoing prosecutions or investigations will result in underreporting of crime and produce an immeasurable chilling effect on victims," the Travis and El Paso County prosecutors argue in a supplemental brief. "In addition to prosecutors' work product, such information will include the victim impact statements, results of rape kits, graphic photos, autopsy information, statements of all victims and witnesses, including confidential informants, criminal history information, detailed medical information, and all correspondence of any kind related to the files."
The prosecutors argue that Paxton lacks the statutory authority to issue the rules. The rules cite Texas Government Code section 41.006, which the prosecutors say only allows the attorney general to request reports from local prosecutors, not to issue rules or remove prosecutors for refusing to comply.
The prosecutors further argue that the reporting requirements are overly burdensome, noting they will cost millions of dollars in taxpayer money and take resources away from prosecuting crimes. The Travis and El Paso County prosecutors say they are already having to divert resources to comply with the reporting requirements.
"Because of the consequences for noncompliance, Plaintiffs have begun allocating resources to fulfill the reporting requirements, pulling numerous attorneys and staff away from their ordinary responsibilities to delve into four years of data and coordinate the process for fulfilling reporting obligations," the Travis and El Paso County prosecutors say in their supplemental brief. "This has the added consequence of impacting the other substantive operations of the prosecutors' offices."
Paxton defended the new rules in a statement to Courthouse News Service.
"It is no surprise that rogue DAs who would rather turn violent criminals loose on the streets than do their jobs are afraid of transparency and accountability," Paxton said. "My DA reporting rule is a simple, straightforward, common-sense measure that will shed light on local officials who are abdicating their responsibility to public safety. This lawsuit is meritless and merely a sad, desperate attempt to conceal information from the public they were sworn to protect."
Source: Courthouse News Service
