Sidney Powell Avoids Texas Sanctions in 2020 Election Challenge (1)

Lawyer Sidney Powell can’t be disciplined by the State Bar of Texas for advancing false claims that Donald Trump was the rightful winner of the 2020 presidential election, a state appeals court said, affirming a trial court.

Three Democratic justices on the Court of Appeals for the Fifth District of Texas said the Bar’s ethics arm provided no evidence that Powell, a Trump ally licensed to practice law in Texas, knowingly asserted incorrect facts to prevent the certification of election results in battleground states Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

“The absence of evidence demonstrating that Powell knowingly made a false statement of material fact or knowingly offered or used false evidence is fatal to the Bar’s claims,” the panel said.

A Dallas trial court made the right decision in refusing to consider certain evidence that lawyers for the Bar failed to properly attach to an amended response, the appeals panel said.

Regardless, the evidence from one of the flawed exhibits doesn’t raise a fact issue about whether Powell “knowingly made a false statement of material fact to a tribunal, or knowingly offered or used evidence that she knew was false,” the appeals court said.

Exhibits the Bar failed to properly cite or didn’t attach weren’t considered by the trial court. Additionally, the Bar didn’t respond to Powell’s no-evidence motion for summary judgment. The court then granted the motion.

The Bar moved for reconsideration or a new trial, which the trial court denied. The Bar then filed the appeal.

The decision to toss the case against Powell comes six months after she pleaded guilty in Georgia to six misdemeanors accusing her of conspiring to intentionally interfere with the performance of election duties.

A mostly different panel on the Dallas appeals court is weighing actions taken by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) to overturn 2020 election results. In November, Paxton’s lawyers argued in court that he was acting within his official duties. The State Bar contended Paxton acted in his personal capacity and should be treated no differently than any other lawyer accused of making false representations.

Last year, a Republican trial court judge ruled against Paxton’s bid to toss the case on jurisdictional grounds. Paxton appealed.

The case is Commission for Lawyer Discipline v. Powell, Tex. App., 5th Dist., No. 05-23-00497-CV, 4/17/24.