On December 17, Jane Nelson, Texas Secretary of State, filed this brief in Hunt v State of Texas, n.d., 2:25cv-200. This is the case in which the Texas Republican Party is challenging the open primary and demanding a closed primary for itself.
The Attorney General supports the lawsuit and has been trying to persuade the court to approve a consent decree, in which the state would agree with the Republican Party. In response, the Secretary of State hired her own attorneys, who argue that a consent decree can’t approved when the state’s chief election officer opposes that maneuver.
The SOS is not taking a policy position on whether the SOS should maintain records of the political beliefs of Texas citizens on behalf of a private organization, but rather that election laws are enacted by the legislature.
Historically election law challenges have named the SOS as the defendant (e.g. Carter v. (Bob) Bullock, American Party of Texas v. (Mark) White, Bush v. (Crawford) Martin). This challenge was filed in an out of the way court and also named the State of Texas as a defendant. Ordinarily, the AG office would defend the SOS (and the legislature).
In this instance, the AG agreed (colluded) with the RPT and the two parties jointly asked the court to approve a consent decree, which would settle the lawsuit. The SOS was given about one hour to approve the proposed decree.
The Legislature might not be inclined to change the law, but if a federal court ordered the Legislature, they might comply.