A Travis County district judge has struck down administrative rules imposed by Attorney General Ken Paxton that required district and county attorneys in the state’s largest jurisdictions to submit detailed operational reports.
Travis County District Judge Catherine Mauzy ruled on May 7 that the mandate was invalid and exceeded the attorney general’s statutory authority, according to reporting by KERA News.
The ruling bars the attorney general from enforcing the reporting requirements against the seven plaintiff counties that filed the lawsuit: Dallas, Harris, Travis, El Paso, Bexar, Fort Bend, and Williamson. Paxton appealed the district court decision to the 15th Court of Appeals approximately one week after the order was issued.
The legal dispute centers on whether a statewide official can dictate administrative protocols to locally elected prosecutors in roughly a dozen counties that contain the majority of the Texas population.
The Office of the Attorney General adopted the reporting requirements in March 2025, applying them to prosecutors in jurisdictions with populations of 400,000 or more residents. The rules mandated that these offices file initial, quarterly, and annual reports tracking local criminal matters.
The guidelines directed prosecutors to document indictments involving law enforcement officers and poll workers, the final resolutions of cases, and internal office communications regarding charging decisions. Under the text of the rules, a failure to comply with the reporting deadlines could be classified as official misconduct, exposing an elected prosecutor to potential removal from office.
Paxton stated that the requirements were necessary to monitor local prosecution strategies. In a March 2025 press release, Paxton stated that officials in several major counties had refused to prosecute criminal offenses, and argued that the rules would enable citizens to hold district attorneys accountable.
A coalition of nine district and county attorneys filed suit to block the rules in May 2025, arguing the mandates lacked legislative authorization, violated the Texas Constitution, and burdened local department resources. A temporary injunction was granted the following month, preventing the rules from taking effect.
Following Judge Mauzy’s final ruling on the merits, the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office released a statement noting that the decision allows local prosecutors to dedicate personnel and taxpayer resources to criminal cases and public safety rather than administrative compliance. The Travis County District Attorney’s Office similarly stated that the rule diverted staff from core public safety duties. The Dallas and El Paso offices declined to comment on the ruling to reporters.
The 15th Court of Appeals has twice issued opinions against the attorney general’s position during earlier injunction phases of the lawsuit. In a December 2025 opinion, Chief Justice Scott Brister wrote that while the Texas Government Code permits the attorney general to request information regarding specific cases, the statute does not authorize the imposition of blanket reporting requirements on elected prosecutors. Justice Scott K. Field separately noted that the Texas Legislature did not grant express rulemaking power to the attorney general in this matter, and concluded that such authority cannot be legally implied.
The courtroom battle runs parallel to broader policy proposals concerning local prosecutorial control in urban, Democratic-led counties. On May 14, Governor Greg Abbott announced that his public safety priorities for the 2027 legislative session would include making district attorneys eligible for direct impeachment by lawmakers and establishing a statewide prosecutor position.
Abbott and state Republican leaders have frequently criticized Travis County District Attorney José Garza, who is a plaintiff in the ongoing lawsuit against the attorney general’s office.
For the duration of the appeals process, the reporting rules remain blocked by court order. The case remains pending before the 15th Court of Appeals, which is scheduled to evaluate the merits of the state’s appeal. The broader debate over state-level authority to override or remove locally elected prosecutors is expected to move to the Texas Legislature when lawmakers convene in January 2027.