AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has again told a federal judge that he shouldn’t have to personally appear before him and contest being held in contempt of court.
Paxton wants U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia to respond by Monday afternoon. Garcia has ordered Paxton to come to his San Antonio courtroom Wednesday and explain why he shouldn’t be held in contempt for enforcing state laws that impede gay marriage rights.
The order came after a Houston gay man was initially denied an amended death certificate for his late husband. The Texas Department of State Health Services later changed the document to reflect the marriage.
In a motion filed Monday, Paxton’s office wrote that a “high-ranking government official should not be compelled to personally appear.”