Attorney General Ken Paxton says he blocked a Travis County Court order that would\u2019ve forced the Texas Workforce Commission to comply with an agreement it made with the developer of a Muslim-oriented housing development.<\/p>\n
The agency and the developer, Community Capital Partners, agreed\u00a0last fall<\/a>\u00a0to resolve allegations of fair housing violations against the project. Community Capital Partners sued the Texas Workforce Commission after it sent the commission fair housing policies for the development but didn\u2019t receive any review or response from the agency according to a press release from the developer.<\/p>\n The court\u2019s ruling would\u2019ve required the commission to review and respond to the fair housing documents as promised. But Paxton appealed the court\u2019s ruling with the Fifteenth Court of Appeals, which he said in a press release suspended the decision while the case is ongoing.<\/p>\n \u201cFollowing my appeal of the flawed ruling that would have required the Texas Workforce Commission to unlawfully approve fair housing documents for EPIC, I am glad to see that the developers will not receive such services as this lawsuit is proceeding,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The Travis County Court\u2019s ruling was a temporary injunction \u2014 a short-term order that\u2019s meant to maintain the status quo while a case is ongoing. Under most circumstances, filing an appeal doesn\u2019t automatically suspend a temporary injunction. <\/p>\n The Texas Tribune<\/a> has reported there\u2019s an unusual state law that lets the attorney general supersede a state judge\u2019s order by filing an appeal.<\/p>\n A State Court Report article<\/a> explains it like this:<\/p>\n “The state\u2019s option to sidestep a trial court\u2019s temporary injunction by immediate appeal derives from a complex and unusual set of appellate rules<\/a> and code provisions<\/a>. Read together, they provide that, when the state, a state agency, or an agency\u2019s head files a notice of appeal from an injunction or declaratory judgment, enforcement of that order is suspended automatically pending appeal.”<\/p>\n The ongoing dispute with the Texas Workforce Commission is one of many controversies plaguing the proposed Muslim housing community in North Texas \u2014 which is years away from construction. Paxton and other top Texas Republicans have repeatedly targeted the project that\u2019s now called The Meadow and was once known as EPIC City. Texas officials have accused the development of implementing Sharia Law and creating a no-go zone for non-Muslims, something the developer has repeatedly denied.<\/p>\n Civil rights groups argue the state\u2019s attacks are religious discrimination. Eric Hudson, a civil rights attorney for Community Capital Partners, said in a press release the state’s attacks lack merit.<\/p>\n \u201cFor more than a year, we have seen a synchronized use of state authority directed at one project,\u201d Hudson said. \u201cDifferent offices, same objective. And each time the State\u2019s allegations have been tested through established legal channels, they have failed to produce a merits-based outcome against this project.\u201d<\/p>\n The developer said in a press release it will defend the Travis County court’s ruling on appeal and plans to honor fair housing requirements under state and federal law.<\/p>\n Got a tip? Email Caroline Love at\u00a0clove@kera.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n