Trumps join Paxton's push to defeat some of Texas' top conservative judges

"Our Attorney General is angry at us because we were not partisan political activist judges on his behalf," Judge Michelle Slaughter said.

AUSTIN (Nexstar) -- Sharon Keller is no liberal. After 24 years presiding over Texas' highest criminal court, she has earned a reputation as a tough-on-crime Conservative -- a staunch supporter of the death penalty who has earned consistent endorsements from every big-city police association. And yet, she and two other conservative judges on the Court of Criminal Appeals are the latest targets of Attorney General Ken Paxton and the Trump family.

"Texas is under attack by activist judges like Sharon Keller, Michelle Slaughter, and Barbara Hervey who have stripped AG Ken Paxton of his authority to prosecute election fraud. It's a disgrace!" Donald Trump, Jr. wrote on X on Monday night. "Conservative Texans must unite and reject these judges."

Presiding Judge Keller said the controversy is fueled by "misinformation."

"We didn't strip the AG of his authority -- the Constitution did," she told Nexstar. "It's strange, frankly, because most of the people that are now concerned about me being an 'activist judge' have supported me for decades because I am considered a Conservative judge. I think it's a dangerous precedent for someone to take one opinion out of context and use it in an effort to get rid of Republican statewide officials."

Of the thousands of cases these judges have adjudicated, Paxton and others are honing in on one ruling from three years ago that didn't go his way.

In 2021, the Court of Criminal Appeals ruled 8-1 that the Attorney General does not have the independent authority to prosecute criminal cases. That was made clear by the Texas Constitution's Separation of Powers Clause, they ruled, which reserved criminal prosecution to district attorneys and limited the Attorney General to civil matters.

"Since 1836, the Attorney General has never had the duty to initiate criminal prosecutions," Judge Michelle Slaughter said. "It seems that our Attorney General is angry at us because we were not partisan political activist judges on his behalf."

Slaughter, running for her second term on the Court of Criminal Appeals after five years as a district court judge in Galveston, is facing a challenge from Lee Finley. Finley is a Dallas area criminal law attorney with no prior judicial experience. Neither he nor Judge Keller's opponent responded to Nexstar's request for an interview.

A 2021 Court of Criminal Appeals decision may sound like insider knowledge for only the most devout Republican primary voters -- but that is who votes in down-ballot primary races -- and the incumbents say it has been coming up at campaign events.

Traditional wisdom would say it is nearly impossible to knock out a well-funded, five-term incumbent from a top judicial seat that garners little attention. But the attention from Paxton and Trump could put the judges at risk.

"Texas Politics are not local anymore. These are national fights. And that can be pretty influential," University of Houston Professor of Political Science Brandon Rottinghaus said. "There are going to be a lot of people who are paying attention to this race who otherwise weren't. And that's the kind of place in politics where, as an incumbent, you're going to be pretty nervous."

To political observers, these challenges are the latest test of Paxton's clout in a party increasingly split by infighting between the Trump-aligned wing and other Republicans.

"Ken Paxton is really taking his capital for a ride after he was acquitted by the Senate," Rottinghaus said. "This is something that really for him is going to be his political fight. Because although he's not on the ballot, his name is part of that conversation."