HOUSTON — A federal judge on Thursday said he will allow Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office to excuse itself from representing acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock’s office in a lawsuit alleging religious discrimination in the new school voucher program after a dramatic fallout between the two offices.
Judge Alfred H. Bennett said he will grant Paxton’s request to withdraw from the case once the comptroller finds a new attorney.
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“I do not want the comptroller to be unrepresented,” Bennett said. “Not one day.”
The judge noted that an injunction hearing for the case is set for April 24 and he wants to avoid any delay.
Thursday’s hearing comes about a week into the unusually public clash between two of Texas’ top GOP officials.
The feud was set in motion last week when Hancock fired off a letter to Paxton, obtained by Texas Bullpen, criticizing the attorney general’s legal strategy in a case centering on whether Islamic schools can receive funds through the state’s $1 billion school voucher program.
Hancock, whose office manages the program, said Paxton’s office had missed major marks on the case, such as failing to highlight connections between one of the schools, Houston Quran Academy, and the Muslim Brotherhood.
“The court cannot protect against threats it does not know exist,” Hancock wrote.
Paxton responded to Hancock in a letter of his own, saying the acting comptroller’s “petty politics” had “single-handedly destroyed my ability to defend the Comptroller’s office in these cases.”
Paxton contended that Hancock undermined the state’s defense by leaking his letter, which included statements not presented in sworn declarations to the court and ultimately risked attorney-client privilege.
Paxton punctuated his point, calling Hancock, a former state senator, an “incompetent loser” and “embarrassment” to the position of the state’s chief financial officer.
Hancock was appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott in June after Glenn Hegar left to become chancellor of the Texas A&M University System.
This isn’t the first clash between Paxton and Hancock. In 2023, Hancock was one of two Republican state senators to vote to impeach Paxton on some of the charges levied by the House.
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