Brent Webster is an American lawyer serving as the first assistant
attorney general of Texas
The Texas attorney general is the chief legal officer of the since 2020. In May 2023, he performed the duties of state attorney general for three days following
Ken Paxton
Warren Kenneth Paxton Jr. (born December 23, 1962) is an American politician and lawyer who has served as the attorney general of Texas since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served in the Texas Senate representing the e ...
's
impeachment
Impeachment is a process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements.
In Eur ...
and suspension from office.
Early life and education
Webster is originally from Houston, Texas and graduated from
Cypress Falls High School
Cypress Falls High School is a secondary school in an unincorporated area of Harris County, Texas, Harris County, Texas, United States. The current principal is Becky Denton. Cypress Falls is part of the Cypress Fairbanks Independent School Dist ...
.
Webster earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science and government from Southwestern University. Webster holds a
Juris Doctor
A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...
degree from the
University of Houston Law Center
The University of Houston Law Center is the Law school in the United States, law school of the University of Houston in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1947, the Law Center is one of 12 colleges of the University of Houston, a state university. It is ...
In his early career, Webster was a prosecutor in the
Williamson County, Texas
Williamson County (sometimes abbreviated as "Wilco") is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 609,017. The 2024 population estimate was 727,480. Its c ...
district attorney (DA)'s office, where he ultimately became first assistant district attorney.
After departing the Williamson County DA's office, Webster became chief operating officer of Just One Dime. He also joined Edwards Sutarwalla PLLC, a
Houston
Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
Following the sudden resignation of Jeff Mateer as First Assistant Attorney General of Texas in October 2020, Texas Attorney General
Ken Paxton
Warren Kenneth Paxton Jr. (born December 23, 1962) is an American politician and lawyer who has served as the attorney general of Texas since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served in the Texas Senate representing the e ...
appointed Webster to the Office of Attorney General's second-in-command position. Mateer resigned after becoming one of eight attorneys in the Office of the Attorney General to report Paxton to law enforcement, accusing him of abuse of power and accepting bribes; the complaint triggered an
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
investigation. Mateer and the others raised concerns over Paxton's personal involvement in a federal case against real estate developer and Paxton campaign donor
Nate Paul
NatinJoe Biden
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...
defeated
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
Proceedings against Webster for professional misconduct
The
State Bar of Texas
The State Bar of Texas (the Texas Bar) is an agency of the judiciary under the administrative control of the Texas Supreme Court. It is responsible for assisting the Texas Supreme Court in overseeing all attorneys licensed to practice law in ...
subsequently investigated and brought a disciplinary case against Webster.Stephen Paulsen Top Texas official not immune from discipline in 2020 election subversion Courthouse News Service (July 14, 2023). In January 2022, the Commission for Lawyer Discipline held a hearing, at which Webster refused to appear. In May 2022, following its investigation, the Commission determined that Webster violated the state's Rules of Professional Conduct for attorneys "by engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation"; and identified six key misrepresentations that Webster had made in the ''Texas v. Pennsylvania'' filings before the Supreme Court.
After the Commission made adverse findings against him, Webster chose to file an appeal in court rather than accept the sanctions proposed by the panel. In September 2022, Judge John Youngblood, a Milam County judge assigned to the case in Williamson County court, dismissed the case against Webster, ruling that "the separation-of-powers doctrine deprives this Court of
subject-matter jurisdiction
Subject-matter jurisdiction, also called jurisdiction ''ratione materiae'', is a legal doctrine regarding the ability of a court to lawfully hear and adjudicate a case. Subject-matter relates to the nature of a case; whether it is criminal, ci ...
" because the State Bar (part of the judicial branch) would sanction the attorney general's office (part of the executive branch). Youngblood's ruling was reversed by the Texas Eighth Court of Appeals in
El Paso
El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...
, which ruled in June 2022 that lawyers for the state are not immune from the rules of professional conduct governing lawyers. The court wrote that "Immunizing Webster from professional-misconduct proceedings in no way furthers the rationale for
sovereign immunity
Sovereign immunity, or crown immunity, is a legal doctrine whereby a monarch, sovereign or State (polity), state cannot commit a legal wrong and is immune from lawsuit, civil suit or criminal law, criminal prosecution, strictly speaking in mode ...
" and that Webster's argument, if accepted, would make the public "powerless to deter misconduct."
Three-day tenure as acting attorney general
Webster began performing the duties of state attorney general after the
Texas House of Representatives
The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. There are no Term limits in the United States, term limits. The ...
impeached Paxton on May 27, 2023, automatically suspending Paxton from exercising the powers of the office pending his trial in the
Texas Senate
The Texas Senate is the upper house of the Texas Legislature, with the Texas House of Representatives functioning as the lower house. Together, they form the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the state of Texas.
The Senate ...
Greg Abbott
Gregory Wayne Abbott ( ; born November 13, 1957) is an American politician, attorney, and jurist who has served since 2015 as the 48th governor of Texas. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served from 2002 to ...
appointed lawyer and lobbyist John B. Scott as interim attorney general for the remainder of Paxton's suspension. Scott was
Texas Secretary of State
The secretary of state of Texas is one of the six members of the executive department of the State of Texas in the United States. Under the Constitution of Texas, the appointment is made by the governor of Texas, with confirmation by the Texas ...
from October 2021 to December 2022, and briefly was an attorney for former President Trump.