Abbott calls for new impeachment process for district attorneys
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Gov. Greg Abbott (center) at a press conference with Austin Police Association president Michael Bullock (left) and Brett Ligon (right), the longtime Montgomery County district attorney who recently won a special election for state Senate. Photo: Nicole Cobler/Axios
Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday proposed that locally elected district attorneys should be subject to impeachment, part of a broader push to expand state oversight of local prosecutors who he says fail to aggressively pursue violent offenders.
Why it matters: Abbott's proposals escalate a yearslong clash between Texas Republicans and progressive district attorneys in the state's largest urban counties.
Catch up quick: State lawmakers in 2023 passed legislation allowing the courts to remove district attorneys for misconduct if they choose not to pursue certain types of crime, a move targeting progressive prosecutors in Austin, Dallas and other urban counties who pledged not to prosecute certain abortion-related or low-level marijuana possession cases.
Driving the news: Abbott's other proposals, which he laid out at the Austin Police Association offices, include:
- Denying bail for undocumented immigrants accused of felonies
- Establishing a statewide prosecutor who could intervene when "rogue district attorneys don't prosecute violent offenders"
- Expanding a Texas Department of Public Safety repeat offender task force beyond Houston to include Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth and San Antonio.
What they're saying: "There's only one elected officer for whom there is no check or balance and that is district attorneys," Abbott told police union members and reporters.
- Preemptively responding to criticism that impeachment could become a political weapon, Abbott argued Texas rarely uses the process.
- "If impeachments were used for political purposes to attack those they don't like, you'd see impeachments taking place every year, every other year," Abbott said, noting there have been three impeachments in Texas over the last century.
The other side: "We welcome any real solutions that address and improve public safety in our community," Travis County District Attorney José Garza tells Axios, pointing to declining crime rates in the Austin area. But, he says, the governor's proposals are "nothing more than a political stunt."
- "Here in the Travis County District Attorney's Office and across the state, elected prosecutors work tirelessly to keep their community safe," Garza adds.
Between the lines: Abbott, who is running for reelection against Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa of Austin, has made public safety and criticism of progressive prosecutors like Garza a central part of his reelection messaging.
Flashback: Abbott has previously called for a state prosecutor, which he framed as a "backstop" when local prosecutors miss indictment deadlines or decline to pursue cases.
- "We have to have a state prosecutor who will backstop that type of failure — that type of neglect," Abbott said.
Zoom in: Abbott said the prosecutor would intervene in cases where local district attorneys miss indictment deadlines that can lead to defendants being released on low bond.
- The proposal would expand state criminal prosecution authority in Texas, where local district attorneys traditionally handle criminal prosecutions and the attorney general cannot independently prosecute local criminal cases without authorization from a local prosecutor or specific statutory authority.
What's next: Abbott's proposals would need legislative approval in 2027.