The Texas Senate was forced to enact the rule as common sense did not seem to enter into the equation for the Paxtons, with Senator Angela Paxton only saying that she would participate in her husband's impeachment trial and "do her duty", refusing to recuse herself as everyone had expected.
This is bad news for the morally bankrupt power couple from Texas and perhaps signals that Republicans are finally willing to wash their hands of Ken Paxton. Certainly, there are others who covet being Attorney General instead. We shall soon see.
Source: Associated Press
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas state Sen. Angela Paxton, the wife of Attorney General Ken Paxton, is barred from voting in the impeachment trial that could lead to her husband’s permanent removal from office, the Republican-controlled Senate decided Wednesday night.
The rule settles a question that has loomed over the Texas Capitol since Ken Paxton last month became just the third sitting official to be impeached in Texas’ nearly 200-year history.
Senators scheduled the trial to begin Sept. 5.
...
Under the rules, Angela Paxton is required to attend the proceedings but prohibited from participating in any way, including closed session or deliberations. The rules state that a spouse is “considered to have a conflict” under the Texas Constitution.A vote to convict Ken Paxton in the Senate would require a two-thirds threshold in the chamber, which has 19 Republicans and 12 Democrats. If all Democrats vote to convict, nine Republicans would have to join them in order to remove Paxton from office.
UPDATE: Angela Paxton was one of the three senators who voted against the adoption of the rule on spouses, of course.
Paxton’s wife, Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney, can attend, but she will not participate in deliberations or closed sessions when the Senate sits as a court of impeachment, according to the trial rules adopted without discussion Wednesday on a 25-3 vote.
The three votes in opposition included Angela Paxton and Sens. Sarah Eckhardt, D-Austin, and Bob Hall, R-Edgewood.
All is not lost, however. She can still sit there and listen to some sordid details of her husband's affair.
