In Re Powered by People and Robert Francis O'Rourke v. the State of Texas

ACCEPTED
15-25-00140-CV
FIFTEENTH COURT OF APPEALS
AUSTIN, TEXAS
8/26/2025 1:47 PM
No. 15-25-00140-CV CHRISTOPHER A. PRINE
CLERK

In the Court of Appeals 15th COURT FILED IN
OF APPEALS
AUSTIN, TEXAS
for the Fifteenth Judicial District8/26/2025 1:47:11 PM
CHRISTOPHER A. PRINE
Clerk
In re Powered By People and Robert Francis O’Rourke,
Relators.

On Petition for Writ of Mandamus
348th Judicial District Court, Tarrant County

OPPOSED EMERGENCY MOTION FOR EXTENSION OF
TIME TO FILE RESPONSE TO MANDAMUS PETITION

To the Honorable Fifteenth Court of Appeals:
In accordance with Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 10.5(b), Real Party in

Interest, the State of Texas, moves for a 14-day extension of time to file a response
to the mandamus petition in the above-captioned matter, creating a new deadline of
September 9. Because this Court has requested a response to a 14,447-word

mandamus petition filed yesterday by 4:30 p.m. tomorrow—a functionally
impossible task under even the best of circumstances—the State requests a
ruling on their motion by 4:30 p.m. today. If such relief is not forthcoming, the

State will seek mandamus review in Texas Supreme Court.

I.
After close of business on August 25, Relators filed a 75-page, 14,447-word
petition for a writ of mandamus challenging at least five unrelated orders issued by
the Respondent on a variety of different topics over the course of the last three
weeks. As of the time of this filing, the State has not been supplied a copy of the
mandamus record. In addition to the mandamus petition itself, the relators filed an
emergency motion for temporary relief under Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure

52.10, seeking a stay of all the orders challenged in the mandamus petition as well as
the underlying proceedings in the 348th district court.
Shortly before noon the next day, August 26, this Court requested that the State

respond to Plaintiffs’ mandamus petition by 4:30 p.m. the next day, August 27.
The State now requests that this Court extend their deadline to respond by 14
days, or to September 9. This Court’s request that counsel for the State respond to

a 14,447-word mandamus petition—a filing that Relators’ counsel has been working
on for weeks—is patently unreasonable and violates due process by effectively
depriving the State of its opportunity to be heard. Crafting a response to Relators’

lengthy, scattershot filing that seeks mandamus relief from multiple orders issued by
the district court over the course of the last three weeks would be a challenging
undertaking involving a significant investment of the State’s resources under a
normal timeframe. On the expedited timeline the Court has imposed, it would be
next to impossible—not the least of which because the State does not even have a
copy of the mandamus record. The State’s lawyers are exceptionally talented and
hardworking, but even they cannot do the impossible. This Court should not be in
the business of imposing such demands on dedicated public servants.
Worst of all, the emergency the Relators have created is one of their own making.
A cursory review of Relators’ filings demonstrates that their mandamus petition
challenges orders issued by the Respondent as far back as August 8th. It is
fundamentally inequitable to allow Respondents to sit on their rights for nearly two

2
weeks and then rush to this Court in an emergency posture demanding urgent relief,
thereby forcing the State’s lawyers to drop everything, including several other

emergency matters, to attend to this case.

II.
Beyond the fundamental unfairness of the expedited briefing schedule, the
requested 14-day extension of time is necessary because the State’s counsel is
exceptionally busy on several other matters, including several emergency, expedited

proceedings requiring their prompt and full attention. Those matters include:

• an opening brief on the merits in State of Texas v. FERC, No. 24-1758, due to be
filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on August 29,
2025;
• an amicus brief in support of Appellees in Doe v. Planed Parenthood Foundation
of America, Inc., No.23-11184 (5th Cir.), due to be filed in the Fifth Circuit on
September 3, 2025;
• a supplemental brief in National Horsemen’s Benevolent & Protective Services v.
Black, No. 23-10520 (5th Cir.), due to be filed in the Fifth Circuit on
September 4, 2025;
• a reply brief on the merits in In re State, No. 25-0687, due to be filed in the Texas
Supreme Court on September 4, 2025;
• a reply brief on the merits in Paxton v. Garza, No. 15-25-00116-cv, due to be
filed in this Court on September 8, 2025;
• a multi-state amicus brief in Galette v. N.J. Transit Corp., No. 24-1021, due
September 10, in the Supreme Court of the United States;
• expedited proceedings in Myers v. Stephen F. Austin University, No. 25-40487
(5th Cir.); and
• expedited proceedings in Wang v. Paxton, No. 25-20354 (5th Cir.).

3
In addition to briefing and argument obligations, counsel has numerous
prelitigation, oversight, and managerial responsibilities and continues to be staffed

on other public and non-public litigation and advisory matters throughout the Office
of the Attorney General.

Prayer
For these reasons, the State requests that the Court grant its motion for a 14-day
extension of time to file a response to Respondents’ motion by 4:30 p.m. today,

resulting in a new deadline of September 9, 2025.

Respectfully submitted.

Ken Paxton William R. Peterson
Attorney General of Texas Solicitor General

Brent Webster /s/ William F. Cole
First Assistant Attorney General William F. Cole
Principal Deputy Solicitor General
State Bar No. 24124187
William.Cole@oag.texas.gov

Abigail E. Smith
Office of the Attorney General Assistant Attorney General
P.O. Box 12548 (MC 059)
Austin, Texas 78711-2548
Tel.: (512) 936-1700 Counsel for Real Party in Interest the
Fax: (512) 474-2697 State of Texas

4
Certificate of Conference
I certify that on August 26, 2025, counsel for the State conferred with counsel
for Relators, who stated that they oppose the extension sought through this motion.

/s/ William F. Cole
William F. Cole

5
Automated Certificate of eService
This automated certificate of service was created by the efiling system.
The filer served this document via email generated by the efiling system
on the date and to the persons listed below. The rules governing
certificates of service have not changed. Filers must still provide a
certificate of service that complies with all applicable rules.

Maria Mendoza-Williamson on behalf of William Cole
Bar No. 24124187
maria.williamson@oag.texas.gov
Envelope ID: 104862683
Filing Code Description: Motion
Filing Description: PBP Opposed MET v1 BC TO FILE
Status as of 8/26/2025 1:54 PM CST

Case Contacts

Name BarNumber Email TimestampSubmitted Status

Sean McCaffity 24013122 smccaffity@textrial.com 8/26/2025 1:47:11 PM SENT

Robert Farquharson 24100550 rob.farquharson@oag.texas.gov 8/26/2025 1:47:11 PM SENT

Mimi Marziani mmarziani@msgpllc.com 8/26/2025 1:47:11 PM SENT

Joaquin Gonzalez jgonzalez@msgpllc.com 8/26/2025 1:47:11 PM SENT

Rebecca Stevens bstevens@msgpllc.com 8/26/2025 1:47:11 PM SENT

Brian Falligant` bfalligant@inquestresources.com 8/26/2025 1:47:11 PM SENT

Rebecca Neumann rneumann@textrial.com 8/26/2025 1:47:11 PM SENT

William FCole William.Cole@oag.texas.gov 8/26/2025 1:47:11 PM SENT

William Peterson william.peterson@oag.texas.gov 8/26/2025 1:47:11 PM SENT

Maria Williamson maria.williamson@oag.texas.gov 8/26/2025 1:47:11 PM SENT