Appeals Court Pauses the Order Giving Hinojosa Access to Abbott's Musk Records, Likely Past Election Day
The Fifteenth Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that Gov. Greg Abbott is entitled to an automatic stay - so the Thursday deadline for his office to open 1,374 pages of mostly blacked-out Musk communications to his opponent is off, probably until after November 3.
An appeals court on Tuesday paused the order that would have required Gov. Greg Abbott to let his Democratic opponent, state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, inspect his unredacted communications with Elon Musk, Bloomberg Law reported. The ruling means Abbott likely will not have to let Hinojosa review the communications until after the November 3 election, if at all.
The Fifteenth Court of Appeals said Abbott is entitled to an automatic stay of the order because he is challenging the trial court's refusal to rule on its authority to hear the case during Monday's hearing, Bloomberg Law reported. The order was unsigned and came from the all-Republican appeals court. A hearing on the appeal had been scheduled for Monday morning, November 2 - the day before the election - and the stay leaves the inspection requirement on hold while the appeal is resolved.
The paused order was issued Monday by Travis County District Judge Catherine Mauzy, who gave Abbott's office until 10 a.m. Thursday to grant Hinojosa access to 1,374 pages of communications his office had previously produced in a public-records fight - all but about 200 of them entirely blacked out. The order would have let Hinojosa inspect the confidential communications for legislative purposes while prohibiting her from publicly disclosing protected information, and it did not require the governor's office to conduct a new records search.
Abbott's office has called the lawsuit a political exercise from the start. 'State Representative Gina Hinojosa is abusing her official capacity as an outgoing lawmaker for political purposes,' spokesperson Andrew Mahaleris said. 'The Office of the Governor's appeal automatically halts the trial court judge's order, and the office has filed a motion to dismiss the baseless lawsuit in its entirety.' Hinojosa, who represents Austin in the Legislature and is Abbott's opponent in the governor's race, sued last week, arguing Texas law entitles legislators to review records withheld from the public when they may be used for legislative purposes. What the communications actually say remains, for now, behind the redactions - and, after Tuesday's ruling, almost certainly behind them until the votes are counted.
