The Texas Supreme Court intervened on Friday to halt a deposition aimed at revealing the identities of those behind the Texas Transgender Student Union. This group, which sent out pamphlets in mid-October claiming to advocate for transgender students, has been accused of attempting to provoke conservative voters.
A Travis County district judge had initially ordered the deposition earlier in the week. However, just 15 minutes before the questioning was set to commence, the Supreme Court issued a temporary block in response to objections from the student union’s legal team.
The reasons for the Supreme Court’s decision were not disclosed, but it acted on an emergency motion submitted late Thursday, according to Mimi Marziani, an attorney for the Transgender Education Network of Texas (TENT). TENT, which is preparing for a potential lawsuit, is seeking to identify the organizers of the student union, which was established in September in Wyoming and is associated with a post office box in the Houston area.
The pamphlets in question, which referenced TENT and included a photo of its members without authorization, were mailed to Texas households and urged recipients to consult a “safe adult” or various advocacy groups if they faced parental opposition regarding their gender identity.
Following the distribution of the mailers, there was significant online backlash, particularly aimed at TENT from prominent conservative commentators.
While the identity of the individuals or group behind the Wyoming organization remains unclear, Marziani indicated that TENT believes it has sufficient information to initiate legal action against some responsible parties, although she refrained from providing specific details prior to any litigation.
In a related development, the West Texas District Attorney, Sarah Stogner, launched a forgery investigation last week concerning the pamphlets. Stogner noted that the materials seemed crafted to galvanize conservative voters ahead of the upcoming November 3 midterm elections. TENT is cooperating with this investigation.
This deposition was the second ordered by Travis County District Judge Jan Soifer. Prior to the controversial mailers being distributed, text messages referencing TENT’s website were sent across Texas, prompting a Republican state lawmaker to call for an inquiry into the organization. The first deposition ordered by Soifer revealed that these texts were sent on behalf of the “Republican Women Caucus Fund” and an individual named John Braun.
The Republican Women’s Caucus Fund has denied any involvement with either the texts or the mailers, as stated in a communication to the Texas Tribune. Similarly, John Braun, a Republican state senator from Washington whose campaign shares a treasurer with the caucus fund, also distanced himself from the issue in a statement to The Texas Observer. Marziani expressed that TENT suspects both the texts and the mailers—distributed within a week of each other—originated from the same source, but acknowledged that there is currently no evidence linking the two.
TENT has been given a deadline of 10 a.m. on Monday to respond to the emergency motion from the student union group submitted to the Texas Supreme Court, as outlined in the court’s order on Friday. This motion was filed by Judd Stone, alongside Chris Hilton, the attorney representing the Wyoming group. Both lawyers previously worked in the office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and represented him during his impeachment trial in 2023.
