Brent Webster
Attorney General of Texas
Acting
May 27, 2023 – May 31, 2023
Served during Ken Paxton's suspension
GovernorGreg Abbott
Preceded byKen Paxton
Succeeded byJohn Scott (interim)
Personal details
BornTexas, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
EducationSouthwestern University (BA)
University of Houston (JD)

Brent Webster is an American lawyer serving as the first assistant attorney general of Texas since 2020. In May 2023, he performed the duties of state attorney general for three days following Ken Paxton's impeachment and suspension from office.

Early life and education

Webster is originally from Houston, Texas and graduated from Cypress Falls High School. Webster earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science and government from Southwestern University. Webster holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Houston Law Center.[1]

In his early career, Webster was a prosecutor in the Williamson County, Texas district attorney (DA)'s office, where he ultimately became first assistant district attorney.[1] During his tenure in this role, Webster's failure to serve citations accurately in over 60 cases resulted in the District Attorney's office missing out on hundreds of thousands of dollars in asset forfeiture.[2][3]

In 2016, later in his tenure in the Williamson County DA's office, Webster ran against Scott Walker, a Fort Worth criminal defense attorney, for a seat on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state's highest court for criminal cases. Walker defeated him in the low-profile judicial election by 16 percentage points.[1][4]

After departing the Williamson County DA's office, Webster became chief operating officer of Just One Dime. He also joined Edwards Sutarwalla PLLC, a Houston-based law firm, as a senior counsel.[4]

Career in Texas AG's Office

First Assistant Attorney General of Texas

Following the sudden resignation of Jeff Mateer as First Assistant Attorney General of Texas in October 2020, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton appointed Webster to the Office of Attorney General's second-in-command position.[5] Mateer resigned after becoming one of eight attorneys in the Office of the Attorney General to report Paxton to law enforcement, accusing him of abuse of power and accepting bribes; the complaint triggered an FBI investigation.[4] Mateer and the others raised concerns over Paxton's personal involvement in a federal case against real estate developer and Paxton campaign donor Nate Paul.[6] Paxton fired the other whistleblowers and replaced them with new senior staff, including Webster.[4]

As Paxton's top deputy, Webster was involved in many of Paxton's legal challenges.[1] His annual salary of $275,000 made him the highest-paid employee of the AG's office, with pay higher than the elected attorney general.[1][4]

Attempt to overturn 2020 presidential election

In late 2020, Webster took part in Paxton's effort to try to overturn the results of the November 2020 presidential election, in which Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump.[4][7] In December 2020, Webster filed a case on behalf of the state (Texas v. Pennsylvania) that sought to overturn the election results in four states won by Biden, thus overturning Trump's election loss and keeping him in power.[7][4] Texas's complaint contained many debunked claims of voter fraud that had already been rejected by many other courts.[4]

Proceedings against Webster for professional misconduct

The State Bar of Texas subsequently investigated and brought a disciplinary case against Webster.[7][8] In January 2022, the Commission for Lawyer Discipline held a hearing, at which Webster refused to appear.[8] In May 2022, following its investigation, the Commission determined that Webster violated the state's Rules of Professional Conduct for attorneys "by engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation";[7] and identified six key misrepresentations that Webster had made in the Texas v. Pennsylvania filings before the Supreme Court.[8]

After the Commission made adverse findings against him, Webster chose to file an appeal in court rather accept sanctions proposed by the panel.[8] In September 2022, Judge John Youngblood, a Milam County judge assigned to the case in Williamson County court, dismissed the case against Webster, ruling that "the separation-of-powers doctrine deprives this Court of subject-matter jurisdiction" because the State Bar (part of the judicial branch) would sanction the attorney general's office (part of the executive branch).[7][9] Youngblood's ruling was reversed by the Texas Eighth Court of Appeals in El Paso, which ruled in June 2022 that lawyers for the state are not immune from the rules of professional conduct governing lawyers.[8] The court wrote that "Immunizing Webster from professional-misconduct proceedings in no way furthers the rationale for sovereign immunity" and that Webster's argument, if accepted, would make the public "powerless to deter misconduct."[8]

Three-day tenure as acting attorney general

Webster began performing the duties of state attorney general after the Texas House of Representatives impeached Paxton on May 27, 2023, automatically suspending Paxton from exercising the powers of the office pending his trial in the Texas Senate.[10][lower-alpha 1]

On May 31, Governor Greg Abbott appointed lawyer and lobbyist John B. Scott as interim attorney general for the remainder of Paxton's suspension. Scott was Texas Secretary of State from October 2021 to December 2022, and briefly was an attorney for former President Trump.[10]

Election history

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 5, Republican Primary, 2016[11]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Scott Walker 833,757 41.48
Republican Brent Webster 411,119 20.45
Republican Steve Smith 393,992 19.60
Republican Sid Harle 371,303 18.47
Total votes 2,010,171 100.0
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 5, Republican Primary runoff, 2016
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Scott Walker 206,922 58.02
Republican Brent Webster 149,714 41.98
Total votes 356,636 100.0

Notes

  1. ↑ Under Texas law, if the state attorney general is "absent or unable to act" the First Assistant Attorney General becomes acting attorney general until the governor appoints an interim replacement.[4][1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Alexa Ura, Lawyer currently leading Texas attorney general's office has been swept up in Ken Paxton's legal challenges, Texas Tribune (May 29, 2023).
  2. ↑ McGaughy, Lauren; Morris, Allie (May 28, 2023). "Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's deputy steps up after impeachment vote, memo shows". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved May 28, 2023.
  3. ↑ Glas, Brittany (May 31, 2017). "Criminals gain from delayed asset forfeiture cases in Williamson County". Austin, Tex.: KXAN. Retrieved May 31, 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Taylor Goldenstein, What to know about interim Texas Attorney General Brent Webster, Ken Paxton's temporary replacement, Houston Chronicle (May 30, 2023).
  5. ↑ Johnson, Brad (October 5, 2020). "Paxton Taps Brent Webster as New First Assistant Attorney General". The Texan. Retrieved May 28, 2023.
  6. ↑ "Ex-top aide to Texas AG: 'Shocked; at his legal intervention". Associated Press. October 23, 2020. Retrieved May 29, 2023.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 James Barragán, Judge dismisses attempt to discipline Texas AG Ken Paxton's top aide for trying to overturn the 2020 election, (September 20, 2022).
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Stephen Paulsen, Top Texas official not immune from discipline in 2020 election subversion, Courthouse News Service (July 14, 2023).
  9. ↑ Bleiberg, Jake (September 20, 2022). "Judge dismisses disciplinary case against Texas AG's deputy". Associated Press. Retrieved May 28, 2023.
  10. 1 2 Zach Despart & Robert Downen, Abbott taps John Scott, former Texas secretary of state, as interim attorney general, Texas Tribune (May 31, 2023).
  11. ↑ "Brent Webster". Ballotpedia. Retrieved May 29, 2023.
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