August 7, 2025      4:35 PM

In bid to remove Democrats from office Abbott ignores his own previous opinion as AG on separation of powers

In 2007, Abbott as the AG wrote “this office will adhere to the Texas Constitution's separation of powers doctrine and longstanding precedent in declining to answer questions requiring an interpretation of Senate and House Rules or questions regarding legislative parliamentary decisions.”

It would be comical if it wasn't so sad.

The Governor of the great state of Texas, a former Supreme Court Justice and a former Attorney General is either willfully or ignorantly misrepresenting the law in extraordinarily consequential circumstances. The first was when he claimed that an Opinion from the Office of the Attorney General gave him the authority to remove elected officials, specifically Democratic State reps who are breaking quorum. The second was being reminded by AG Ken Paxton that the governor did not have standing to petition the Supreme Court seeking removal when only a district attorney, county attorney, or the AG could legally initiate the process. But this was never about the law. It’s about optics and the Fox News audience.

Naturally, the governor’s office disagrees with all this and the Supremes, mostly appointed by him, have asked the other side for a response.

But, to remind the governor, an Attorney General's opinion is purely advisory and has no force of law. These opinions are simply that: Opinions providing a basis for future litigation but with little relevance to justify a cause of action.

In fact, Gov. Greg Abbott has some experience of his own dealing with an attorney general intervening in legislative politics. It goes back to the days when Texas House chairmen wanted to remove a sitting speaker.

By Harvey Kronberg

Copyright August 07, 2025, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved