Abbott Dealt Double Loss in Request to Reconsider Sexting Ruling

Attorney General Greg Abbott had wanted the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to revisit an October ruling that overturned a law enacted to prevent "sexting" in instances involving minors.

What Abbott got instead on Wednesday was a decision to toss out the notification law under which he claimed the ruling was invalid.

The Austin American-Statesman's Chuck Lindell reported the unexpected ruling out of the state's highest appellate court for criminal cases.

The notification law, Lindell wrote, was passed in 2011 and requires a court to notify the attorney general when it finds a law unconstitutional before it can enter a final judgment. Abbott said his office wasn't notified in the sexting case that the law's constitutionality was being challenged. Because of that, Abbott was requesting the court to reconsider its ruling.

The court instead threw out the notification law, saying that lawmakers "exerted 'undue influence'" on the courts when it passed the law.