Appellate court rules in favor of Abbott days before election

Texas’ highest appellate court has ruled in favor of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in a lawsuit brought by his Democratic challenger over access to public records days before the Nov. 3 election. 

State Rep. Gina Hinojosa sued the governor earlier this month, requesting that a Travis County district court require him to provide details for a public information request she submitted in late September. Under Texas Government Code, a government body is required to provide information to a member of the state Legislature, including confidential information, if the public information request states the information is needed for legislative purposes. The Legislature does not convene until next January.

Hinojosa was seeking access to communications exchanged between the governor and trillionaire Elon Musk, who has donated millions of dollars to Republican campaigns in Texas. Musk is listed as the top donor to Abbott’s campaign, with contributions totaling $5.5 million, according to transparencyusa.org.

The communications “bear directly on many matters within the legislature’s responsibility, including state incentives, state grants, broadband deployment, public health access, environmental impact, AI and data center development,” the lawsuit argues.

During the COVID-19 lockdown era, Musk relocated much of his business operations to Texas from California. The trillionaire has since expanded them and established headquartered in Texas including for SpaceX, Starlink, Tesla, X, the Boring Company, Neuralink and xAI.

Hinojosa argues that Musk and his companies are receiving political favors in exchange for campaign donations. Her campaign has largely alleged that Abbott “does the bidding of his billionaire donors while leaving Texans to fend for themselves.” 

Billionaire Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker donated $1.2 million to Hinojosa’s campaign, making the Democratic governor the biggest contributor.

Abbott’s campaign has prioritized meeting with everyday Texans, including in their homes across the state. His platform includes plans to lower energy and housing costs, continued job creation and expansion and reduced costs for students, The Center Square reported. The state has also awarded contracts and grants to a range of billion- and trillion- dollar companies to expand operations in Texas, The Center Square reported.

In response to the public information request, the governor’s office provided 1,374 pages, the majority of which were redacted, according to Hinojosa’s lawsuit. She then requested un-redacted documents, which the governor’s office didn’t provide. She sued to gain access to them, saying Abbott “refuses to comply with his clear legal duty” and is “breaking the law” by not providing them, her lawsuit alleges.

District Judge Catherine Mauzy ruled in her favor and ordered the governor’s office to provide the unredacted documents, saying Hinojosa “has an immediate legal right to access the requested documents.”  

Mauzy did not recuse herself from the case after having donated $500 to Hinojosa’s campaign in June, Bloomberg News first reported. In 2016, she contributed more than $700 to Hinjosa’s first campaign for the Texas House, Bloomberg reported, citing campaign finance records.

According to the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, judges must recuse themselves from any proceeding where their “impartiality might reasonably be questioned.” And the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct says judges “should act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary” and not “advance their private interests” among other prohibitions. 

Mauzy, who is running for reelection, didn’t respond to requests for comment. 

After her ruling, the governor’s office filed a petition with the 15th Court of Appeals to intervene, which it did. It issued a stay on the lower court ruling and gave Hinojosa two weeks to respond to Abbott’s interlocutory appeal.  

The new appellate court hears cases related to the state government. All three of its inaugural justices are running for reelection, The Center Square reported.

Abbott’s campaign has argued that Hinojosa could have requested the documents more than a year ago when the Legislature was in session but chose to do so roughly one month before Election Day and sued when early voting was underway.

“Hinojosa’s desperate attempt to use her official office to benefit her own campaign is just the tip of the iceberg. She’s conspiring with the unethical judge who ruled in her favor,” his campaign said.

On the same day as the appellate court ruling, Hinojosa said in a social media post, “Elon Musk just gave Greg Abbott $5 million. Sounds like the Elon emails Abbott has been hiding must be more damning than we even knew.”

After the ruling, Abbott’s Press Secretary Andrew Mahaleris issued a statement saying, “This was a sham lawsuit in a rigged district court. The trial court judge refused to follow the law and rubber-stamped an illegal fishing expedition into the Governor’s Office. The appeals court rightly froze this abuse of process.”

Throughout the litigation process, Mahaleris commented on social media that Hinojosa was “abusing her official capacity as an outgoing lawmaker for political purposes.” 

Early voting is ongoing through Friday. Abbott has a slight lead in a race that according to some polls is statistically tied, The Center Square reported.