The 31 page decision by the AG's office has been released. (Here's the PDF)
The AG says that it is up to the Legislature to make the rules and he's pretty much going to stay out of it. The opinion also states that "state officer" has not been defined by the Legislature, nor the courts. That means that impeachment cannot even be addressed until the definition is clear.
While the Speaker's office claims victory, the point is moot at this time because one of the first orders of business in the next Session is to adopt new rules and to elect a Speaker.
Craddick is already facing opponents in the election and if those opponents can win favor by vowing to be held accountable to the Members, they may get some folks off the fence. Also, several Craddick supporters are not running and others continue to desert him. Those that defected from his camp are sure to face opposition backed by the Craddick campaign war chest.
Basically, we won't be able to predict this until after the primaries and then the general elections...and mostly likely right up until they call for the damn vote.
whatever.
end the madness.
RSS
Not exactly. The AG's ruling says much more actually.
The AG agrees with Craddick that a speaker is a state officer with a 2-year term, who can only be removed before the end of that term by impeachment or expulsion.
Therefore, the AG is saying that Craddick was within his rights when he said that a "motion to vacate" not only does not exist in the current rules, but would be unconstitutional if proposed.
So the ruling means that the texas constitution does not permit the members to add a "motion to vacate" to the rules, even if they wanted to.