On December 1st, 2021 Attorney General Ken Paxton appealed the smokable hemp ban final judgement directly to the state supreme court, removing the permanent injunction in place.
The appeal states “Consequently, the trial court, must permit the judgment to be superseded. Tex. R. App. P. 24.2(a)(3). Therefore the final judgement is superseded by operation of law.”
The final judgement order from the trial court for the smokable hemp ban hearing was signed November 16, 2021 according to the appeal motion.
“The Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure provide a mechanism to the Attorney General’s Office to automatically suspend a temporary injunction duly entered by a co-equal branch of government. This forces the Plaintiffs to then seek redress with the appellate court. As long as this rule stands in Texas, the state of Texas and its agencies can ignore any injunction covering any subject matter entered by any trial court in the entire state of Texas simply by filing a notice of appeal and invoking the rule with the correct requesting language. This is not how due process works in America,” cannabis attorney Chelsie Spencer told Texas Cannabis Collective back when the delta-8 case was being considered for injunctive relief.
The attorney’s involved on the case are already working on filing a motion. According to the same rules for appellate issues that the AG is following, the plaintiffs in this case can also file a motion according to section 29.3.
“When an appeal from an interlocutory order is perfected, the appellate court may make any temporary orders necessary to preserve the parties’ rights until disposition of the appeal and may require appropriate security. But the appellate court must not suspend the trial court’s order if the appellant’s rights would be adequately protected by supersedeas or another order made under Rule 24.”
Basically the motion allows for the SCOTX (the appellate court in this instance) to provide temporary orders until the case is heard by that appellate court and decision is reached.
“It is untenable that the Attorney General’s Office believes it unilaterally has the power to suspend a Final Judgment rendered by a co-equal branch of government in Texas,” Chelsie Spencer noted online
She further noted that they anticipated the state appealing but the appellate rule permitting the state to suspend a final judgment is a severe due process violation and finds it insane that our state deemed it worthy of passage.
As more news and information becomes available on the smokable hemp ban case, TCC will keep you posted. Make sure you subscribe to get an email every time we post up news. As well, check out our podcast Lonestar Collective.