Five Texas district attorneys are suing state Attorney General Ken Paxton, challenging new rules that would give his office broad authority to access their office’s case records, according to a new report. 

In the two lawsuits filed on Friday, the district attorneys said the rule, in effect since April, is an unconstitutional overreach that violates the separation of powers and would impose unnecessary burdens on county prosecutors, The Texas Tribune reported.

District attorneys in Dallas, Bexar and Harris counties filed one lawsuit while district attorneys in Travis and El Paso counties filed another. Both lawsuits seek to block Paxton from enforcing the rule, arguing that it violates the state constitution and federal law.

The rule created by Paxton’s office applies to counties with at least 400,000 residents, impacting only 13 of Texas’ 254 counties, The Texas Tribune reported. It requires district attorneys to provide all documents or communications produced or received by their offices, including confidential information.

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All documents, correspondence and handwritten notes relevant to a case can be subject to review, according to the outlet. Counties must also submit quarterly reports to the attorney general on twelve different subjects, including specific information on indictments of police officers and the number of times indictments were issued for election code violations. Information on internal policies and how funds obtained through civil forfeiture are spent would also need to be turned over under the new rule.

Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot described the rules as a violation of the separation of powers between the executive branch and the judicial branch.

“To make matters worse, the rule’s extremely burdensome reporting requirements will cause district attorneys’ offices to divert resources and staff away from core prosecutorial roles and responsibilities, which harms public safety and the administration of justice,” Creuzot said in a statement. “And it will cost Dallas County taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars or more to pay for the technology and resources needed to identify and produce all the responsive information under these unnecessary reporting requirements.”

In the two lawsuits, the district attorneys said the rule is an unconstitutional overreach that violates the separation of powers and would needlessly burden offices. (Justin Lane/Reuters)

“AG Paxton should be working with all district and county attorneys in pursuit of justice, not picking fights with the Democrats in large cities,” Creuzot added.

Paxton’s office has claimed the provision is a way to “rein in rogue district attorneys” allegedly refusing to uphold the law. District attorneys that do not comply with the reporting rule could be charged with official misconduct and removed from office.

“District and County Attorneys have a duty to protect the communities they serve by upholding the law and vigorously prosecuting dangerous criminals,” Paxton said in March. “In many major counties, the people responsible for safeguarding millions of Texans have instead endangered lives by refusing to prosecute criminals and allowing violent offenders to terrorize law-abiding Texans. This rule will enable citizens to hold rogue DAs accountable.”

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Paxton’s office has claimed the provision is a way to “rein in rogue district attorneys” refusing to uphold the law. (Dylan Hollingsworth/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

In response to the lawsuits, Paxton said Friday that it “is no surprise that rogue DAs who would rather turn violent criminals loose on the streets than do their jobs are afraid of transparency and accountability.”

“My DA reporting rule is a simple, straightforward, common-sense measure that will shed light on local officials who are abdicating their responsibility to public safety. This lawsuit is meritless and merely a sad, desperate attempt to conceal information from the public they were sworn to protect,” he continued.

The two lawsuits claim Paxton’s office does not have the sweeping jurisdiction the rule creates, and that providing the information requested would be expensive and illegal, according to The Texas Tribune. The lawsuits claim the rule seeks to achieve a political objective by burdening officials and creating strict consequences for noncompliance.

The beef is building between Bruce Springsteen and President Trump.

The Boss did not back down on his fiery rhetoric against Trump on the second night of his “Land of Hopes and Dreams” tour in Manchester, England, on Saturday — a day after Trump lashed out against the legendary singer on Truth Social, calling him an “obnoxious jerk,” a “dried out ‘prune’ of a rocker,” and writing that he should “keep his mouth shut.”

Springsteen didn’t oblige. In a resolute three-minute speech from the Co-op Live venue, Springsteen thanked his cheering audience for indulging him in a speech about the state of America: “Things are happening right now that are altering the very nature of our country’s democracy, and they’re too important to ignore.”

He then repeated many of the lines that he used during his first Manchester show — the same words that upset Trump to begin with, including the administration defunding American universities, the rolling back of civil rights legislation and siding with dictators, “against those who are struggling for their freedoms.”

Trump’s Truth Social post contained what appeared to be a threat, writing of Springsteen, “We’ll see how it goes for him,” when he gets back to the country. This did not dissuade the “Born in the USA” singer.

“In my home, they’re persecuting people for their right to free speech and voicing their dissent. That’s happening now,” Springsteen said. “In America, the richest men are taking satisfaction in abandoning the world’s poorest children to sickness and death. That’s happening now. In my country, they’re taking sadistic pleasure in the pain they inflict on loyal American workers.”

In a steady voice, he listed the many concerns of those who oppose Trump, his enablers and his policies.

“They are removing residents off American streets without due process of law and deploying them to foreign detention centers as prisoners. That’s happening now. The majority of our elected representatives have utterly failed to protect the American people from the abuses of an unfit president and a rogue government,” Springsteen said as the crowd applauded and yelled its support. “They have no concern or idea of what it means to be deeply American.”

He finished on a positive note.

“The America I’ve sung to you about for 50 years is real, and regardless of its many faults, it’s a great country with a great people, and we will survive this moment. Well, I have hope, because I believe in the truth of what the great American writer James Baldwin said. He said, ‘In this world, there isn’t as much humanity as one would like, but there’s enough.’ ”

Springsteen has long been a vocal critic of Trump, and campaigned for former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election. Trump is known for his angry diatribes against celebrities who criticize him, including Taylor Swift and Robert DeNiro.