Texas Supreme Court sides with Attorney General Ken Paxton, halts deposition

The Texas Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed a court order compelling Attorney General Ken Paxton's deposition in the yearslong wrongful termination lawsuit that prompted his impeachment last year. The ruling will further delay Paxton's testimony, which was scheduled Thursday in Austin.

After several appeals were rejected over the past month, the Supreme Court's decision Tuesday is Paxton's first successful appeal of a Travis County state District Court's ruling in December ordering his deposition on the situation that led to four former attorney general's office employees being fired after they complained to the FBI about Paxton's possible misconduct in helping a friend and campaign donor.

More: Ken Paxton again asks Texas Supreme Court to stop his deposition scheduled for this week

"Because the depositions are scheduled to begin this Thursday, February 1, with the Attorney General going first, OAG has no adequate means for obtaining relief through the regular appellate process," Paxton's attorneys wrote Monday in asking for an emergency stay of the deposition order.

"The Supreme Court has granted the Attorney General's emergency motion for temporary relief, staying a lower court's order compelling depositions of senior OAG officials," the high court's X account posted Tuesday afternoon. "The petition remains pending before the Court."

In challenging previous appeals by Paxton and continuing to seek his deposition and a new settlement agreement, attorneys for the whistleblowers have called Paxton's effort to avoid testifying under oath a "mockery of the judicial process."

Under the court's latest ruling, responses to the emergency relief motion are due Feb. 29.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas Supreme Court sides with AG Ken Paxton, halts deposition