Ken Paxton, in His Official Capacity as Attorney General for the State of Texas and the Office of the Attorney General for the State of Texas v. Delia Garza, in Her Official Capacity as Travis County Attorney; John Creuzot, in His Official Capacity as Dallas County Criminal District Attorney; And Brian Middleton, in His Official Capacity as District Attorney of Fort Bend County (268th Judicial District)

Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided July 11, 2025·No. 15-25-00116-CV·Published

Opinion

ACCEPTED 15-25-00116-CV FIFTEENTH COURT OF APPEALS AUSTIN, TEXAS 7/11/2025 6:32 PM No. 15-25-00116-CV CHRISTOPHER A. PRINE CLERK FILED IN I N THE F IFTEENTH C OURT OF A PPEALS15th COURT OF APPEALS AUSTIN, TEXAS KEN PAXTON, ET AL . , 7/11/2025 6:32:50 PM CHRISTOPHER A. PRINE Appellants, Clerk v. DELIA GARZA , ET AL . , Appellees.

On Direct Appeal from the 419th Judicial District Court, Travis County, Texas No. D-1-GN-25-003445, Consolidated With No. D-1-GN-25-003531 & No. D-1-GN-25-003581

APPELLEES’ REPLY TO APPELLANTS’ RESPONSE TO APPELLEES’ EMERGENCY MOTION FOR TEMPORARY RELIEF

TO THE HONORABLE FIFTEENTH COURT OF APPEALS:

Temporary relief is necessary to maintain the status quo while this Court

considers Appellants’ appeal. Appellants’ response amounts to a sweeping assertion

that his authority is effectively unlimited and that any delay in producing reports

(that were never previously sought) somehow constitutes irreparable harm. The

Attorney General offers no evidence—none—that a temporary delay will cause any

concrete injury, especially when Appellants will be able to obtain the requested

reports should they ultimately prevail on this appeal.

By contrast, Appellees face immediate and irreparable harm under the trial

court’s detailed findings: hundreds of hours of diverted staff time, disclosure of confidential information, and the threat of removal from office in a quo warranto

action. Appellees sought relief just six weeks after the rules took effect, won a

temporary injunction after a full evidentiary hearing, and now seek only to preserve

the status quo while this Court reviews the temporary injunction order.

The Attorney General claims broad rulemaking power under a statute that

says nothing about rules. Appellees are not asking this Court to resolve those

questions now but rather before they are required to comply with the Challenged

Rules. Appellants’ opening brief is due in 17 days. TEX. R. APP. P. 38.6(a)(2).

This is precisely what temporary appellate relief is for. At this stage,

Appellees need not prove they will win—only that Appellees have demonstrated—

and the Attorney General has not refuted—that Appellees’ challenge raises serious

legal questions and that the equities favor a continued stay. See In re Tex. Educ.

Agency, 619 S.W.3d 679, 683–84 (Tex. 2021).

ARGUMENT

Preliminarily, the Attorney General’s assertion that Appellees

“manufacture[d] an emergency” instead of “prepar[ing] to comply,” Resp. at 3, is

not only irrelevant, it is belied by the record.

Appellees began preparing to comply with the Challenged Rules before they

took effect and told the Attorney General that producing the requested reports is

extraordinarily burdensome. Evidence presented at the temporary injunction

hearing establishes that Appellees already have spent hundreds of hours preparing

2 the requested reports. 2RR74:5-22. Before Appellees requested that the Attorney

General agree to temporary relief in this Court, Appellees asked the Attorney

General to postpone or extend the reporting deadlines either during the pendency

of litigation or until September 1, but he refused. 2RR148:3-7.

Regardless, Appellees would have needed temporary relief from this Court

no matter when they filed their lawsuits. Appellees brought suit a mere six weeks

after the Challenged Rule took effect on April 2, 2025. Then, after extensive

conferral with the Attorney General, they noticed the temporary injunction

hearing shortly thereafter. Even had they filed earlier, less than three months

between the effective date and due date of the first report would never have been

enough time to fully litigate the validity of the rule. And, in the end, it was the

Attorney General who waited until 4:00 pm June 27, 2025—the Friday prior to the

Monday compliance deadline—to file his notice of appeal.

I. The Attorney General glosses over the Rule 29.3 balancing standard, which prioritizes “preserv[ing] the parties’ rights.”

The Attorney General misapplies the Texas Supreme Court’s balancing test.

Even where “the State has an intrinsic right to enforce its own laws,” In re State,

711 S.W.3d 641, 645 (Tex. 2024) (cleaned up), the balancing of harms is “a required

aspect of a court’s effort to preserve the parties’ rights pending appeal.” Id. at

645 (emphasis added). Here, the Attorney General acknowledges Appellees have at

3 least some rights at stake. (E.g., Resp. at 25–26 (the right and responsibility to

prosecute cases)).

A temporary injunction applicant “is not required to establish that it will

prevail on the final trial.” Butnaru v. Ford Motor Co., 84 S.W.3d 198, 211 (Tex. 2002)

(citing Sun Oil Co. v. Whitaker, 424 S.W.2d 216, 218 (Tex. 1968)). And the decision

on this motion does not even decide the merits of the temporary injunction—that

is what the appeal is for. This is why, in In re State, the Texas Supreme Court made

“no definitive statement about the merits” but instead found temporary relief

justified when the movant simply “raised serious doubt” about the validity and

constitutionality of the actions that the movant sought to stay. 711 S.W.3d at 646.

The balancing of harms between the various parties has two elements that

are critical here. First, whether damages or other harm can “feasibly be recouped if

it is later determined” that the harmful action was invalid is part of asking whether

harms are “irreparable” and thus entitled to additional weight. Id. at 647. Second,

when a governmental entity’s constitutional rights are impacted, that is where the

“status quo” question is particularly helpful, too—favoring a stay of state action

that would change another governmental unit’s “manner of governance” from its

“last, actual, peaceable non-contested status” before the lawsuit. Tex. Educ. Agency,

619 S.W.3d at 683–84.

Appellants do not address these factors or even mention In re Texas Education

Agency. They are dispositive here, if the traditional balance weighing is not enough. 4 II. Appellants show no harm and ignore Appellees’ harm.

The balance of harms weighs heavily in Appellees’ favor. At the temporary

injunction hearing, Appellees presented substantial evidence that they would be

irreparably harmed by compliance with the Challenged Rules, which the Attorney

General neither contradicted nor countered. Rather, the Attorney General presents

the legally incorrect view that government officials are irreparably harmed

whenever they cannot impose their view of the law.

A. The Attorney General has no evidence of harm.

Typically, “[w]hen the State files suit to enjoin ultra vires action by a local

official, a showing of likely success on the merits is sufficient to satisfy the

irreparable-injury requirement for a temporary injunction.” State v. Hollins, 620

S.W.3d 400, 410 (Tex. 2020). Here, however, Appellees are the government

officials bringing an ultra vires action, and Appellees have shown a likelihood of

success on the merits, as the district court found. Allowing the Attorney General

to invoke this doctrine in defending against an ultra vires claim would shield the

Attorney General from ultra vires actions even if he could show a likelihood of

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Ken Paxton, in His Official Capacity as Attorney General for the State of Texas and the Office of the Attorney General for the State of Texas v. Delia Garza, in Her Official Capacity as Travis County Attorney; John Creuzot, in His Official Capacity as Dallas County Criminal District Attorney; And Brian Middleton, in His Official Capacity as District Attorney of Fort Bend County (268th Judicial District), (Tex. Ct. App. 2025).

Ken Paxton, in His Official Capacity as Attorney General for the State of Texas and the Office of the Attorney General for the State of Texas v. Delia Garza, in Her Official Capacity as Travis County Attorney; John Creuzot, in His Official Capacity as Dallas County Criminal District Attorney; And Brian Middleton, in His Official Capacity as District Attorney of Fort Bend County (268th Judicial District) (Ken Paxton, in His Official Capacity as Attorney General for the State of Texas and the Office of the Attorney General for the State of Texas v. Delia Garza, in Her Official Capacity as Travis County Attorney; John Creuzot, in His Official Capacity as Dallas County Criminal District Attorney; And Brian Middleton, in His Official Capacity as District Attorney of Fort Bend County (268th Judicial District)) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Cameron v. Terrell & Garrett, Inc.
618 S.W.2d 535 (Texas Supreme Court, 1981)
Butnaru v. Ford Motor Co.
84 S.W.3d 198 (Texas Supreme Court, 2002)
Martinez v. State
323 S.W.3d 493 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2010)
Gerst v. Oak Cliff Savings and Loan Association
432 S.W.2d 702 (Texas Supreme Court, 1968)
Sun Oil Company v. Whitaker
424 S.W.2d 216 (Texas Supreme Court, 1968)
Pruett v. Harris County Bail Bond Board
249 S.W.3d 447 (Texas Supreme Court, 2008)
Texas State Board of Examiners v. Texas Medical Ass'n
511 S.W.3d 28 (Texas Supreme Court, 2017)