Alleging that the Texas Open Meetings Act (TOMA) muzzles public officials, three attorneys working pro bono will ask a federal judge on Nov. 23 to declare the act’s criminal provisions unconstitutional and to enjoin the state from enforcing them.

But lawyers for the defendants — Attorney General Greg Abbott and the state — will try to convince U.S. District Judge Rob Junell of the Western District of Texas Midland-Odessa Division to uphold TOMA’s constitutionality.