Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing the city of San Antonio over its decision to deny an airport contract to Chick-fil-A.
In a petition filed in a district court on Monday, Paxton sued the city after San Antonio officials refused to hand over documents requested by the Attorney General’s Office in April.
The Attorney General’s records request centered around San Antonio’s decision in March to reject a Chick-fil-A contract at a local airport because of the company’s anti-LGTBQ beliefs, as well as the restaurant’s policy of being closed on Sundays.
San Antonio officials argued that Paxton’s request of documents, which asked for communication records between council members, could not be released because they would soon be used in “pending litigation”— or the city’s anticipated lawsuit from the state of Texas.
Paxton’s lawsuit is asking the court to force San Antonio officials to release the requested documents under the Public Information Act.
The politically-charged lawsuit comes less than a week after the end of the Texas legislative session, which saw Republican lawmakers advance a bill to the governor that would prohibit local and state governments from taking “adverse action”— such as denying a business contract— to a person because of their religious anti-LGBTQ beliefs.
