A Texas appeals court has dismissed the remaining criminal charge that a grand jury brought against former Texas governor Rick Perry in 2014.
The state’s Court of Criminal Appeals ruled Wednesday that Perry was within his bounds in 2013 when he threatened and ultimately vetoed money to a state office run by an official who had been convicted of driving while intoxicated. A Travis County grand jury later indicted Perry on counts of abuse of official capacity and coercion of a public official. A lower court tossed out the latter charge last summer. The criminal court ended the 18-month saga once and for all Wednesday.
“The governor’s power to exercise a veto may not be circumscribed by the Legislature, by the courts, or by district attorneys (who are members of the judicial branch),” the court’s opinion stated. “When the only act that is being prosecuted is a veto, then the prosecution itself violates separation of powers.”
THE WEEKLY STANDARD’s Terry Eastland wrote about the ordeal in Sept. 2014:
