The Texas Supreme Court on Friday temporarily blocked a deposition intended to identify the people or group behind the Texas Transgender Student Union, which mailed pamphlets in mid-October. A Travis County district judge had ordered the deposition earlier in the week. The court acted 15 minutes before questioning was to begin, after lawyers for the student union group objected. The court did not explain its reasons, according to Mimi Marziani, a lawyer for the Transgender Education Network of Texas, or TENT.
Marziani said TENT wants to learn the organizers' identities before an expected lawsuit. The student union formed in September in Wyoming and had an address linked to a Houston-area post office box. The mailers referenced TENT and used a photo of its members without permission. West Texas District Attorney Sarah Stogner opened a forgery investigation last week and said the pamphlets appeared designed to motivate conservative voters before the Nov. 3 midterm elections. Marziani said TENT is cooperating with that investigation.
Text messages sent statewide before the mailers also referenced TENT. A earlier deposition revealed the texts were sent on behalf of the "Republican Women Caucus Fund" and an individual named John Braun. The caucus fund denied involvement, as did a Washington state senator named John Braun, according to statements to news outlets. Marziani said TENT believes the texts and mailers came from the same source but acknowledged there is currently no evidence linking them. TENT has until 10 a.m. Monday to respond to the student union group's emergency motion.