October 8, 2015      5:19 PM
AG Paxton offers recommendations for interim charges on religious liberty and abortion
Paxton returns to court in the criminal case against him next week.
Indicted
Attorney General Ken Paxton asked
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Speaker Joe Straus to consider focusing their investigative
resources on two of the most heavily investigated, regulated, and litigated
areas of government interest: abortion and religious liberty.
Paxton’s
letter bears yesterday’s date but was announced today—about half an hour after
Gov. Patrick released his first set of interim charges. Based on the Office
of the Attorney General’s ongoing investigation of abortion providers
who have been informally accused of talking about the idea of profiting from the
sale or donation of fetal remains, Paxton made several suggestions for potential
methods of “Protecting the Life and Dignity of Unborn Babies.”
Many of
these suggest Paxton has an innovative interpretation of the relationship
between state law and U.S. Supreme Court precedent.
By Emily DePrang
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