In a change of course, Attorney General Ken Paxton and his wife, Angela, have agreed to unseal their divorce case after media organizations pressed to make the records public as Paxton campaigns for the Senate.
An order signed Thursday by the Paxtons’ attorneys said they would allow full public access to the file. The agreement still requires approval from a judge in Collin County, who is scheduled to take it up at a hearing Friday morning.
The document says “all court records and filings, and any other materials previously sealed in this case, are hereby unsealed.”
The case was closed to the public this summer at the request of Paxton and his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton R-McKinney, shortly after she filed for divorce. Angela Paxton cited her husband’s infidelity as being among the reasons for wanting to end her 38-year-marriage.
Breaking News
The decision caps a dispute over privacy and public access to court records involving sitting statewide officials.
Related
Ken Paxton’s attorneys had asked the court to keep the records private, calling media efforts to open them “unprecedentedly broad and intrusive.”
The legal team had argued divorce files are not automatically public, even for elected officials, and are often exempt from open-records standards. The team also warned that opening the file would undermine long-standing privacy protections in family law.
The media and watchdog coalition that sued for access includes Campaign for Accountability, Dow Jones & Company Inc., The Washington Post, Hearst Newspapers, ProPublica, The Texas Lawbook, Texas Newsroom, The Texas Observer and The Texas Tribune.
The coalition has said that because Ken and Angela Paxton are elected constitutional officers, the need for transparency is heightened, especially for records that could involve finances or conduct that constituents have a legitimate interest in knowing.
Related
The Campaign for Accountability said Paxton’s efforts to keep the file sealed raises questions for voters. “Paxton’s constituents can fairly wonder what he is so desperate to hide,” the group wrote, calling public access to the information “clearly in the public interest.”
The dispute comes as Paxton challenges Sen. John Cornyn in the March Republican primary. Cornyn has attacked the attorney general on character issues but has not directly commented in the divorce proceedings. At the same time, Cornyn’s campaign has framed the matchup as a broader test of character.
Paxton was first elected attorney general in 2015 after having served as senator in the same district that his wife now serves.
He was acquitted of all charges in a 2023 Senate impeachment trial on misconduct allegations. Among the revelations from the proceedings was that Paxton had engaged in an extramarital affair.
Under state law, his senator wife was required to attend the trial but was barred from voting on guilt or innocence under rules adopted by her colleagues shortly before the trial began.
Angela Paxton later said the marriage became “insupportable” due to adultery and conflict. She said she attempted reconciliation with her husband but later determined that “in light of recent discoveries, I do not believe that it honors God or is loving to myself, my children, or Ken to remain in the marriage.” She didn’t elaborate on the “recent discoveries.”
Texas AG Ken Paxton launches tip line for new transgender bathroom lawDallas launches website to comply with attorney general investigation