John Scott (Texas)

John Scott

Republican Party

Prior offices

Texas Secretary of State

Successor: Jane Nelson

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Acting Attorney General of Texas

Successor: Angela Colmenero

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Education

Bachelor's

University of Texas, Austin, 1985

Law

South Texas College of Law Houston, 1988

Personal

Profession

Attorney

John Scott was the Acting Attorney General of Texas. Gov. Greg Abbott (R) appointed Scott as attorney general, who succeeded former First Assistant Attorney General Brent Webster (R) after Ken Paxton was suspended.To read more about Paxton's impeachment, click here.

Scott previously served as the Texas Secretary of State, where he was appointed on October 21, 2021, by Gov. Greg Abbott (R) to replace Ruth Ruggero Hughs after Hughs' nomination was not taken up by the Senate Nominations Committee.

Biography

John Scott earned a B.A. in economics from the University of Texas at Austin in 1985 and a J.D. from South Texas College of Law at Houston in 1988. Scott's career experience includes owning Scott PLLC and working as the chief operating officer of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission and a deputy attorney general with the Texas Office of the Attorney General. He has served as the chair of the board of the Texas Department of Information Resources.

Noteworthy events

Texas House votes to impeach Paxton (2023)

The Texas House of Representatives voted 121-23 to impeach Paxton on May 27, 2023. The Texas Tribune's Zach Despart and James Barragán wrote that "Many of the articles of impeachment focused on allegations that Paxton had repeatedly abused his powers of office to help a political donor and friend, Austin real estate developer Nate Paul."

The Texas House of Representatives General Investigating Committee unanimously recommended Paxton's impeachment on May 25, 2023, after beginning an investigation in March 2023. The Texas Tribune reported that four investigators for the House committee said during a public forum that they believed Paxton "broke numerous state laws, misspent office funds and misused his power to benefit a friend and political donor."

According to the Texas Constitution, Paxton was suspended from office during the impeachment process. Following the House vote that impeached him, Paxton said, "The ugly spectacle in the Texas House today confirmed the outrageous impeachment plot against me was never meant to be fair or just. It was a politically motivated sham from the beginning. … What we witnessed today is not just about me. It is about the corrupt establishment's eagerness to overpower the millions of Texas voters who already made their voices heard when they overwhelmingly re-elected me." A senior lawyer in Paxton's office, Chris Hilton, stated that what the investigators said was "false," "misleading," and "full of errors big and small."

On September 16, 2023, the Texas Senate acquitted Paxton on 16 articles of impeachment, and he resumed serving as attorney general on September 18, 2023. After the vote, Paxton issued a statement: "The sham impeachment coordinated by the Biden Administration with liberal House Speaker Dade Phelan and his kangaroo court has cost taxpayers millions of dollars, disrupted the work of the Office of Attorney General and left a dark and permanent stain on the Texas House. The weaponization of the impeachment process to settle political differences is not only wrong, it is immoral and corrupt." The Senate also voted to dismiss the four other articles of impeachment that had been held in abeyance at the start of the trial.

External links

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Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by Ruth Ruggero Hughs	Texas Secretary of State 2019-2022	Succeeded by Jane Nelson

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