A new page on the Texas Senate website went live on Friday and will provide details of suspended Attorney General Kenneth Paxton’s impeachment trial.
The webpage, entitled Senate Court of Impeachment, provides readers with details and documents about the current state of the trial.
Multiple documents appear on the site under the sections titled General Documents, Orders, House Board of Managers, and Attorney General Kenneth Paxton.
On May 27, the Texas House of Representatives voted 121-23 to adopt 20 articles of impeachment against Paxton, per the Austin American-Statesman.
Two days later, the House’s board of managers — a group containing seven Republicans and five Democrats — delivered the 20 articles of impeachment to the Senate.
The Senate is expected to convene on September 5 and begin the trial.
Harriet O’Neill, a Republican former justice on the Texas Supreme Court, recently announced that she will be part of the team of lawyers prosecuting Paxton.
“The facts in this case are clear, compelling, and decisive, and I look forward to presenting them before the members of the Texas Senate,” O’Neill claimed in a statement, per The Texas Tribune.
For his part, Paxton maintains his innocence and called the trial a “politically motivated sham,” according to The Texas Tribune.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is presiding over the trial, issued a discovery order on July 12 that requires all the impeachment managers to turn over any evidence they have relating to the trial.
Tony Buzbee, Paxton’s lawyer, claimed the managers have been “openly mocking the intent of the Texas Senate to have a fair and open proceeding and are clearly withholding information that would routinely be disclosed,” per the Austin American-Statesman.
“It is critical the Senate enforce our constitutional guardrails to prevent further institutional damage inflicted by the Texas House,” he continued.
In an effort to maintain the trial’s integrity, Patrick issued a gag order on Monday that prohibits anyone involved from publicly discussing it.
In the order, Patrick stated that “out-of-court statements relating to the matters of this impeachment proceeding pose a serious and imminent threat to Warren Kenneth Paxton, Jr.’s, right to a fair trial of impeachment, the ability of the members of the court to remain fair and impartial, and to the fair administration of justice.”
In a statement released Monday, Patrick said, “All 31 Senators and I are subject to communication rules which prohibit discussing the merits of the trial.”
Anyone who violates the order can be held in contempt of court, face up to six months in county jail, and be ordered to pay a fine that does not exceed $500.
