Court to toss complaint against Trump lawyer
A Dallas appeals court on Thursday upheld a decision not to discipline Sidney Powell, former lawyer for Donald Trump, for her role in seeking to overturn the 2020 presidential election, saying the complaint against her was riddled with errors.
In a scathing 25-page opinion, a panel of three Democratic judges criticized the state bar for filing a complaint against Powell with mislabeled evidence. A Collin County judge had tossed the case in early 2023, citing the disorganization.
“The Bar employed a ‘scattershot’ approach to the case, which left this court and the trial court ‘with the task of sorting through the argument to determine what issue ha(d) actually been raised,’” wrote Judge Dennise Garcia.
The appeals court agreed that the bar had not met its burden of proof to show Powell knowingly made a false statement or used false evidence when she filed lawsuits to overturn the election results.
Powell’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The trial court declined to consider any evidence that the bar failed to cite or identify, and the appeals court on Thursday said it would do the same.
A bar committee, which declined to comment on the ruling, had asked the appeals court to consider all evidence even if citations were incorrect or missing.
“Reference alone will not suffice,” Garcia wrote, adding that according to court precedent, the “court was not required to sift through plaintiff’s voluminous evidence to determine whether any of it raised (a) fact question.”
Claire Reynolds, a bar spokesperson, said the commission has not yet decided whether it will appeal.
The bar also is pursuing disciplinary action against Attorney General Ken Paxton and his top aide, First Assistant Brent Webster, for filing a case before the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to overturn President Joe Biden’s wins in four battleground states.
Those cases have had opposing outcomes: A Collin County judge said Paxton ought to face trial, while a Milam County judge initially tossed the suit against Webster.
An appeals court revived the case against Webster in July of last year, and it’s now before the Texas Supreme Court. A group of 18 Republican attorneys general last week wrote a brief in support of Webster, arguing that if the case is allowed to proceed, it would “open the floodgates to more like it and will undermine state attorneys general in the discharge of their constitutional duties.”
Meanwhile, the same Dallas appeals court that ruled in Powell’s favor Thursday has Paxton’s appeal pending before it now after hearing oral arguments in November.