"Stop the Steal" Activists Target a Texas Judge -

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Taniel
@Taniel
A sitting judge in Texas's highest criminal court says here that he can't definitively say who won the 2020 election.

And somehow he's still targeted by the Trumpian right looking to game elections.

That gives you a sense of what's going on in Texas.

boltsmag.org
"Stop the Steal" Activists Target a Texas Judge - Bolts
Conservative backlash to a ruling limiting the attorney general’s voter fraud unit has upended a Republican primary next month.
3:55 PM · Feb 17, 2022

https://boltsmag.org/stop-the-steal-targets-texas-judge/


The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) often makes decisions that end in death. The court, the state’s highest authority on criminal cases, has a track record of rubber-stamping executions, even paving the way for the killing of people who were very likely innocent. But rarely does it trigger the kind of fury that followed its opinion last December limiting Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton’s authority to prosecute election-related crimes across the state.

Paxton, who achieved hero status among conservatives for aiding in the legal efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential race, has long fixated on baseless accusations of widespread fraud. He beefed up the voter fraud unit of the attorney general’s office to hunt for election-related crimes that GOP lawmakers can then cite when passing new voting restrictions. The court’s 8-1 ruling complicates that effort, keeping the power to prosecute in the hands of local district attorneys, and it prompted howls from all corners of the Texas GOP. Governor Greg Abbott urged the court to reconsider while Paxton fanned the controversy with help from Big Lie evangelists like Steve Bannon and Donald Trump loyalist Mike Lindell. During an appearance on LindellTV, Paxton solicited help pressuring the judges to reverse their ruling, asking viewers to “call them out by name.”

The barrage that followed ranged from angry to outright threatening, according to emails sent to the court that were obtained by the Austin American-Statesman. ”Your court now is on my list to go after in The Patriot hunt for Communists,” said one message. “We are armed at all times so do not cross the line.”

Anger against the all-Republican court is now spilling into the GOP’s March 1 primary. Conservative activists have rallied against Scott Walker, one of the CCA judges who signed the opinion limiting Paxton’s power and the only member of the court who faces a primary challenger. Clint Morgan, a Houston-area prosecutor running to unseat Walker, has racked up support from conservative groups across the state, including some of the state’s most rabid purveyors of the Big Lie.

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