Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office has filed two significant motions in the ongoing Jackson County Tax Assessment case. The trial remains unresolved due to legal maneuvers by opposing counsel. The motions include a request to vacate the court’s order for Bailey to sit for a deposition, arguing that the order is inconsistent with existing law and infringes on his First Amendment rights. Additionally, Bailey has moved to disqualify the opposing counsel representing Jackson County defendants, citing a conflict of interest involving the Jackson County legislature.
Bailey stated, “The Jackson County tax assessment case is one of the most important pieces of litigation to reach a Missouri courtroom in decades, and yet, Jackson County officials continue to stonewall us at every turn. They are misleading as to the facts and the law because they know they violated Jackson County residents’ legal rights, and they have no leg to stand on. The court may have instituted a functional gag order that has a similar chilling effect on speech as what the New York judge did to President Trump, but I will not be silenced. This case is too important for too many Missourians. I am moving forward undeterred in the fight to obtain justice for all Jackson County residents who were unlawfully taxed.”
The motion asserts that the court’s order disregards the default rule against top-level executive depositions and ignores the purpose of corporate representative depositions. It argues that the Jackson County defendants have already deposed a corporate representative of the Attorney General’s Office who provided all relevant information about the case, rendering Bailey’s deposition unnecessary.
The motion also contends that the order imposes an unconstitutional prior restraint on Bailey’s speech and affects the speech of others interacting with him. This is particularly significant with Missouri’s primary election less than three weeks away, in which Bailey is publicly known to be campaigning.
Additionally, Bailey has called for the Jackson County Counselor’s Office to be disqualified from representing members of the Jackson County Legislature due to conflicts of interest with other Jackson County defendants. The County legislature agrees with Bailey that the 2023 property tax assessments should be set aside, conflicting with other Jackson County defendants represented by the Jackson County Counselor’s Office.
Bailey is urging the court to vacate its order and resume the trial immediately to resolve the matter.
The motion to vacate can be viewed here. The motion to disqualify Jackson County counsel can be viewed here.
