AUSTIN – The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals today dismissed the remaining indictment against former Governor Rick Perry. Texas Public Policy Foundation President & CEO Brooke Rollins and General Counsel Robert Henneke issued the following statements:
“Fundamental to the American democracy is the promise that we all enjoy equality under the law,” said Rollins. “Whether great or small, every one of us deserves the expectation of equitable treatment under the law in both the letter and the spirit that the lawgivers intended. The prosecution of Governor Perry never met this basic test. Instead it sought to make a partisan legal issue out of what should have been an ordinary exercise of executive prerogative. This is a prime example of the pressing need for criminal-justice reform at all levels. It's a cause the Foundation has been engaged in for over a decade — securing real law-governed justice for all Americans in every circumstance.”
“The prosecution’s contorted argument that Governor Perry’s exercise of his veto authority constituted abuse of power and coercion violated Governor Perry's First Amendment free speech rights as a public servant,” said Henneke. “The Court of Criminal Appeals recognized that the end result would be to criminalize ‘part of the usual course of business in politics.’ Fortunately, the Court recognized that this matter was not legally nor constitutionally appropriate to be prosecuted through the criminal justice process. Justice was finally found today in the Court’s mandate that the indictments against Governor Perry be dismissed.”
Brooke Rollins is president and CEO of the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
The Honorable Robert Henneke is general counsel and director of the Center for the American Future at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
The Texas Public Policy Foundation is a non-profit, free-market research institute based in Austin, Texas.