This is the background of the case. Stephens was elected to the position of sheriff of Jefferson County in 2016. While investigating someone else, the FBI uncovered information regarding potential campaign-finance violations concerning Stephens. The FBI then turned this information over to the Texas Rangers. The Rangers’ investigation concluded that Stephens received individual cash campaign contributions in excess of $100. The Rangers presented their findings to the Jefferson County District Attorney, who declined to prosecute, referring the Rangers to the Attorney General. The Rangers then presented the results of their investigation to the Attorney General, who presented the case to the grand jury in Chambers County, a county adjoining Jefferson County. See Tex. Elec. Code §273.024. The Attorney General relied on Texas Election Code section 273.021 to prosecute a criminal offense “prescribed by the election laws of this state.” In April of 2018, the Chambers County grand jury indicted Stephens, charging her with accepting cash contributions in violation of Texas Election Code. The state district court judge quashed her indictment. The decision was appealed to the First Court of Appeals which agreed with the State and found that Election Code section 273.021(a) “clearly and unambiguously gives the Attorney General power to prosecute criminal laws prescribed by election laws generally whether those laws are inside or outside the Code.” Article 4, Section 22 of the Texas Constitution states, “The Attorney General shall represent the State in all suits and pleas in the Supreme Court of the State in which the State may be a party…and perform such other duties as may be required by law.” The Texas Election Code was amended by the Texas Legislature in 1951 in Subchapter B, Section 273.021, which gave the Attorney General additional authority to prosecute violations of the Texas Election Code. “Sec. 273.021. PROSECUTION BY ATTORNEY GENERAL AUTHORIZED. (a) The attorney general may prosecute a criminal offense prescribed by the election laws of this state. (b) The attorney general may appear before a grand jury in connection with an offense the attorney general is authorized to prosecute under Subsection (a). (c) The authority to prosecute prescribed by this subchapter does not affect the authority derived from other law to prosecute the same offenses.” On December 15, 2021 the Republican controlled Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued the following outrageous decision. “Texas Attorney General lacks constitutional authority to independently prosecute a crime in a district or inferior court without the consent of the appropriate local county or district attorney by a deputization order.” |