Pressley, Casar return to court this morning

Attorneys for former candidate Laura Pressley and City Council Member Greg Casar will return to court this morning – perhaps for the last time – to argue about whether Pressley has reasonable grounds to continue her election contest against Casar. Casar won the Dec. 16 runoff by a margin of 1,291 votes, or approximately 65 percent to 35 percent. Casar’s attorney, Chuck Herring, said of Pressley in his motion for summary judgment, “Her campaign continues with unsupported, conspiratorial allegations in a demand that this court discard Travis County’s entire electronic voting system and revert to paper ballots or adopt some other entirely new system. Pressley’s claims are frivolous and her election contest should be dismissed.” Visiting Judge Dan Mills, who is overseeing the case, ordered Pressley’s lawyers to file a new amended petition describing her claims. In response to that order, her attorneys have filed a 5,000-page document, which is almost unheard of, even in the most complex litigation. In addition, Casar’s lawyers report that Pressley’s attorneys filed a 3,000-page response to their motion for summary judgment. Casar’s motion is a mere 12 pages. If all goes as planned, Mills will hear from both parties beginning at 9 a.m. today in Room 506 of the Travis County Courthouse. If the case is not dismissed, the judge will hear several discovery motions from Pressley’s lawyers.