The people who financed and controlled Texas’ printed “trans” student mailers remain unnamed in the filings before the Texas Supreme Court, which on Friday paused sworn questioning aimed at identifying them.
The October 30 order suspends the pre-suit oral deposition of a representative of Texas “Transgender” Student Union LLC, the company named on the mailers. The proposed examination topics in the filed record cover its owners, operators, financial contributors, collaborators and agreements to reimburse campaign costs.
The justices acted “Without regard to the merits.” The company’s petition and request for temporary relief remain pending. The order requires the “Transgender” Education Network of Texas, or TENT, to respond by 10 a.m. Monday, November 2.
The Dallas Express previously reported on the student-addressed brochures, which discuss unsupportive parents, emancipation and out-of-state medical care, and TENT’s denial that it authorized them.
What the stay pauses
TENT filed its Rule 202 petition on October 22 to obtain testimony before bringing an anticipated lawsuit. It alleges the communications improperly used its name and materials and triggered threats, security expenses and canceled programming. Those allegations do not establish liability.
The record includes six proposed topics for the LLC representative, including anyone who directly or indirectly supplied anything of value toward planning, creating or distributing the communications. That reaches financial support beyond the person who paid a printer’s bill.
The Supreme Court stayed the district court’s October 28 order authorizing that oral deposition. Its wording does not halt the separate criminal investigation or undo Infobip’s earlier written responses about the texts. It also does not name a financier or resolve whether any conduct was unlawful.
Vendors leave the payer unanswered
The LLC formed September 2 in Wyoming, according to business records reviewed by CBS News Texas. TENT’s filed demand letter identifies Northwest Registered Agent’s Sheridan address as the company’s principal office, mailing address and organizer’s address. Those service-provider details do not identify its beneficial owners.
Three Z Printing holds the bulk-mail permit used for the brochures, a U.S. Postal Service spokesperson told The Texas Newsroom. A permit identifies a mailing-service connection; it does not establish who commissioned, wrote or financed the material.
A separate postal identifier on two brochures led to tracking company SnailWorks, The Texas Tribune reported. The company said it tracks mail using USPS scan data and does not create, sell or rent mailing lists. Its role does not establish who supplied the recipients’ addresses.
TENT’s filed preservation demand seeks bank and payment records, print-shop job orders, postage records, mailing lists and related communications. The public record reviewed by The Dallas Express contains no invoice, bank transfer or list-purchase record establishing the printed campaign’s ultimate payer or list supplier.
Text disclosures are separate
Infobip’s written answers address two phone numbers used for October 12 and 13 texts. Ethan Gustav, its North America group president, said he reviewed a customer agreement and campaign-registration information. The public copy in the Supreme Court record redacts customer, contact and payer details.
The Republican Women Caucus Fund and a person named John Braun appeared in the subsequently disclosed text-related testimony, The Texas Tribune reported. That disclosure does not establish that either financed the printed brochures.
“We did not authorize, fund, direct, coordinate, or participate in these activities in any capacity,” a fund spokesperson said in a statement published by The Texas Observer. A Washington state senator named John Braun also denied involvement through his campaign. The disclosed name alone does not establish that he is the person listed.
Infobip said in its sworn answers that it had no knowledge of a business relationship with the Wyoming LLC. TENT alleges a coordinated effort, but the shared references to its website do not by themselves prove common financing or control. The denials do not independently settle those questions either.
Anonymous speech remains a central issue
The LLC’s petition argues that compelled disclosure would violate anonymous-speech and association rights and that its pending Texas Citizens Participation Act motion requires a discovery suspension. Its emergency motion says disclosure would irreversibly expose identities and funding relationships.
TENT disputes that defense and denies authorizing either communication. West Texas District Attorney Sarah Stogner separately opened a potential-forgery investigation focused on the printed mailers, The Texas Newsroom reported. The administrative stay resolves neither those allegations nor the LLC’s constitutional arguments.
Provided by Dallas Express
