Austin, Texas: State Supreme Court Pauses Questioning Over Mystery Transgender Mailers

The Texas Supreme Court on Friday paused the questioning in an Austin court case that is trying to identify who sent millions of mailers and text messages about transgender resources to Texas households in the final weeks of the election season.

The stay stops a deposition that had been scheduled for Friday morning, when a representative of the Texas Transgender Student Union LLC was to answer questions over Zoom about the mailers. The court will review a petition for a writ of mandamus and a separate request for temporary relief filed by the LLC, and it set a Monday deadline for initial responses. A motion for relief filed by the Transgender Education Network of Texas, or TENT, remains pending.

A case built in a Travis County courtroom

TENT, the nonprofit named again and again in the mailers, says it sent none of them and has no affiliation with the sender. Last week it filed a Rule 202 petition in Travis County asking District Judge Jan Soifer to let it question the senders before any lawsuit. At a hearing in downtown Austin on Tuesday, Soifer ruled that the senders must answer questions later in the week. On Wednesday she ruled that TENT has suffered injuries from being named in the mailers, including harassment and a diversion of resources.

Chris Hilton, an Austin attorney who previously worked in the Texas Attorney General's office, told the court he represents both the Wyoming LLC and the unnamed customer who registered the phone number used for the texts. Hilton said his clients will stop sending the pamphlets, argued that their actions are protected by the First Amendment, and declined to name them. He later filed the appeal that produced Friday's stay.

Millions of mailers, and a text campaign beside them

The mailers were addressed to students at thousands of Texas households and gave a return name of Texas Transgender Student Union, a group formed as a limited liability company in Wyoming in September. The address printed on them sits one digit away from the correct address for TENT's post office box. The court heard Tuesday that an estimated 3.6 million to 4.2 million mailers were sent.

The texts arrived in the same period and linked to resources on TENT's website. They were sent from a phone number with a West Texas area code that was registered with the messaging company Infobip.

The names that surfaced on Thursday

Infobip answered written questions on Thursday, and the Texas Tribune reported from the company's deposition that the texts were sent on behalf of the Republican Women's Caucus Fund and an individual named John Braun. A spokesperson for the fund denied any role. "We did not authorize, fund, direct, coordinate, or participate in these activities in any capacity," the spokesperson told the Tribune on Thursday. Infobip also said it has no business relationship with the Texas Transgender Student Union LLC, and it is not clear whether the fund or Braun had any part in the printed mailers.

State Rep. Jeff Leach wrote to Attorney General Ken Paxton on October 13 and October 21 asking the state to investigate who sent the mailers. Sarah Stogner, the district attorney for several West Texas counties, has opened a criminal investigation into the materials.

What happens next

Friday's stay means the central question in the case, who paid for and sent the messages, will not be answered before the weekend. Election Day is Tuesday, November 3. The case is listed at the Supreme Court as In re Texas Transgender Student Union LLC.