Highest Court in Texas Rules the State’s Attorney General Has No Unilateral Prosecutory Power for Election Fraud…Obvious Question, Then Who Does?…

by Wendi Strauch Mahoney at UnCover DC

The Republican majority Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) in Texas issued a stunning decision in December that strikes down Chapter 273 of the election code in a 1951 statute. Section 273.021 allows the state’s Attorney General to unilaterally prosecute election cases. The powerful Court disagrees.

Attorney General Ken Paxton has asked for a motion to rehear the case but says the Court can summarily dismiss it if they so decide. The Court is the most powerful in the state in criminal matters because of its bifurcated appellate court system.

NOW, THANKS TO THE TEXAS CRIMINAL COURT OF APPEALS, SOROS-FUNDED DISTRICT ATTORNEYS WILL HAVE SOLE POWER TO DECIDE WHETHER ELECTION FRAUD HAS OCCURRED IN TEXAS. THIS RULING COULD BE DEVASTATING FOR FUTURE ELECTIONS IN TEXAS. PIC.TWITTER.COM/GUARE4ZOLN

— ATTORNEY GENERAL KEN PAXTON (@KENPAXTONTX) DECEMBER 15, 2021

The statute has been on the books for decades and is one of the reasons elections are so secure in the state. Subchapter B, section 273.021, states the following, captured below in a screenshot. It states that the Attorney General is authorized to “prosecute a criminal offense prescribed by the election laws of this state.”

The court ruling references the three-year-old case involving Jefferson County Sheriff Zena Stephens and two of her opponents who were charged with campaign finance violations during the 2016 election. The Texas Tribune reports:…