Senate Impeachment Rules

This week, the Texas Senate adopted rules for its upcoming impeachment trial of Attorney General Ken Paxton. The rules are laid out in Senate Resolution 35, which sets the trial date for September 5, the day after Labor Day. All of the debate about the rules took place behind closed doors: there was no discussion or debate during the adoption of the resolution, which passed on a vote of 25 to 3 with three senators absent. 

 

SR35 forces Sen. Angela Paxton, wife of AG Paxton, to recuse herself. Sen. Paxton voted against the resolution, as did Sen. Bob Hall. 

 

The other vote in opposition was from Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, who submitted a letter expressing her concerns about the resolution. In her letter, Eckhardt pointed out that now the impeachment rules are adopted, she and all other senators are prohibited from discussing anything about the case or their votes under Rule 10 laid out in the resolution.

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