I wrote earlier about the Third Court’s divisive case involving former associates of Tom DeLay. See “Dissension in the Third Court”. Although the three Justice panel reached a unanimous conclusion in that case, two of the other Justices on the six-member appellate court thought that the Court should have heard the case en banc.

Now, the prosecutors have filed a motion for rehearing. As described in the Austin American-Statesman this morning, the motion seems to accuse the panel of partisanship (or worse):

“The dark shadow of corruption of our system of justice looms over this case,” Earle wrote. “Every lawyer has a duty to raise questions of corruption that go to the heart of our judicial system, and it is in the discharge of that duty that the State pursues this effort.”

The Travis County District Attorney, Ronnie Earle, did not run for reelection and is retiring in January. (( The article notes another time when Earle was even more colorful:

It’s not the first time Earle has used colorful language in prosecuting defendants accused of misusing corporate money in state campaigns. He once compared the Texas Association of Business, the state’s largest organization lobbying for business interests, to fascist leader Benito Mussolini of Italy and robber barons.
))

It’s a little hard to glean details about the allegations from the article, but they appear to relate to one Justice’s prior representation of Texans for Lawsuit Reform, a group that was alleged to be involved in fundraising related to the indictment (but that was never itself indicted).