Part of the job of being Texas Attorney General is settling disputes, both large and small, between county-level officials in the form of advisory opinions. And one of Greg Abbott's latest opinions will be of interest to both government lawyers and dog lovers — particularly government lawyers who want to bring their non-service trained canines to work at the county courthouse. In an Aug. 26 opinion, Abbott addresses Titus County Attorney John Mark Cobern's question whether his county's commissioner's court may establish a rule that prohibits him from taking his dog to work at his county office. And Abbott's answer to that dog dispute is, yes, the commissioners do have the authority to establish such a rule. Cobern had a reason for wanting to bring his dog to work, as Abbott notes in his opinion. "You assert that the presence of your dog helps to maintain a safer office environment," Abbott writes. "Whether that assertion is accurate or not, under the facts as you relate them a reviewing court would likely conclude that the commissioners court's order does not unreasonably interfere with the performance of the statutory or constitutional duties of the county attorney. Accordingly, given the commissioners court's statutory authority to maintain and regulate county offices, a reviewing court would likely uphold the commissioners court order prohibiting animals in all county offices, including the office of the county attorney," Abbott concluded in the decision. Cobern says he brought Belle, his 16-year-old Dachshund, to work because of the calming influence she had on mentally ill defendants his office deals with and because she's suffering from Cushing's disease. Cobern says he stopped bringing Belle to work even before it became an issue with the Commissioner's Court. "It was just the idea that the constitution gives us the right to run our office any way we see fit," Cobern says of his reasons for requesting the AG opinion. "And how could a commissioner's court tell someone what they can and can't do? I think that attorney general's opinion is going to cause some problems later on.''
Texas I.D. Law
On Aug. 22, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it would file a lawsuit against Texas over the state's voter identification law under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, alleging the Texas law is discriminatory. The DOJ also said it would intervene in a suit pending in the Southern District of Texas related to the state's redistricting plans. The DOJ's actions are in response to a June U.S. Supreme Court opinion in Shelby County, Ala. v. Holder, in which a divided court damaged the VRA by striking down the formula devised by Congress to determine which states are covered by the act. The DOJ has filed the complaint in the Southern District of Texas, and the plea in intervention.
