The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has ruled that the office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton should not be prosecuting cases of voter fraud without a request from the local District Attorney where the suspected crime occurred.
The ruling came in a 2016 case from Jefferson County that Paxton's office prosecuted after the district attorney declined to pursue the case.
The court ruled that Paxton's effort to prosecute the local case violated the "separation of powers" clause in the Texas Constitution. The court also noted that the Texas Penal Code states that Paxton's office does have the ability to prosecute certain offenses "with the consent of the appropriate local county or district attorney".
Paxton has created an Election Fraud Unit to go after people suspected of voting illegally or of unlawfully assisting people voting by mail. He posted a message on-line criticizing the court's decision, writing that local prosecutors could not be trusted to exercise that authority.
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