AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Fifteenth Court of Appeals on Wednesday, October 28, temporarily blocked a lower-court order that would have required Governor Greg Abbott's office to let State Representative Gina Hinojosa inspect unredacted communications between the governor's office and billionaire Elon Musk and his companies, pausing the disclosure while the appeals court considers Abbott's challenge, KTSA News reported.
Source: KTSA News (Associated Press-style report), Oct 28, 2026
The stay pauses an order issued on Monday, October 26, by Travis County District Judge Catherine Mauzy, who had required the governor's office to provide access to the records by Thursday morning. Bloomberg Law reported that Mauzy found Hinojosa entitled to see the records because she might use them for legislative purposes, the Texas Gazette reported, citing CBS Austin and Bloomberg Law.
Source: Texas Gazette, citing CBS Austin and Bloomberg Law
How the fight started: a records request and 1,374 pages of black ink
The case began after The Texas Newsroom, a public radio collaboration, requested communications between Abbott's office and Musk's businesses under Texas public-records law. The governor's office produced 1,374 pages, but all except approximately 200 pages were completely blacked out. Hinojosa — a Democratic state representative for Austin's House District 49 and Abbott's Democratic opponent in the November 3 gubernatorial election — sued on October 19, arguing that Texas law gives lawmakers the right to inspect government records for legitimate legislative purposes.
The disputed communications reportedly involve areas where Musk's companies have substantial interests in Texas: state grants and tax incentives for Tesla, SpaceX and related projects; Starlink broadband contracts and infrastructure; data-centre development and its electricity and water use; and public beach access and land-use decisions near SpaceX facilities.
Abbott's office called the lawsuit a “baseless stunt” and an “illegal fishing expedition,” accusing Hinojosa of misusing her official capacity for political purposes days before the election. Hinojosa said on CBS's Face the Nation: “There's a lot that we need to see, and as a legislator, I have a responsibility and a right to see what those emails are about.” Both statements are the parties' own characterisations, reported by KTSA and the Texas Gazette.
The Fifteenth Court of Appeals — a specialised statewide appeals court created by the Texas Legislature — has ordered Hinojosa to respond to Abbott's petition seeking dismissal of the case. Abbott's team has also raised recusal claims against Judge Mauzy after reports that she donated $500 to Hinojosa's campaign; the appeals court's stay did not resolve those allegations, Particle News reported. The donation claim is Abbott's team's allegation, not a court finding.
Source: Particle News, Oct 28, 2026
Why this is bigger than one file of emails
The dispute puts two principles of Texas government in direct conflict a week before voters choose their governor: the public-records and legislative-oversight rights that let elected lawmakers inspect executive-branch documents, and the executive's claim that internal communications — especially with a major employer and state contractor — cannot be opened on a political opponent's demand in the middle of a campaign. The records themselves have not been ordered released to the general public; the fight is over whether one legislator, who is also the governor's election opponent, may inspect them unredacted.
For Texas's large Punjabi and wider South Asian community — concentrated in Houston, Dallas–Fort Worth and Austin — the case lands on familiar ground: the same state agencies deciding tax breaks, broadband contracts and data-centre permits shape jobs, trucking routes and small-business costs across the state, and the November 3 result will decide who runs them for the next four years.
What happens next: Hinojosa must file her response to Abbott's dismissal petition in the Fifteenth Court of Appeals, and the stay remains in effect while that challenge is considered — meaning the 10 a.m. Thursday deadline no longer applies. The gubernatorial election itself is on Tuesday, November 3. Sources: KTSA News, October 28, 2026; Texas Gazette, October 28, 2026; Particle News, October 28, 2026.