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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS 

SAN ANTONIO DIVISION 

LINDA JANN LEWIS, MADISON LEE, 

ELLEN SWEETS, BENNY ALEXANDER, 

GEORGE MORGAN, VOTO LATINO, 

TEXAS STATE CONFERENCE OF THE 

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE 

ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE, 

and TEXAS ALLIANCE FOR RETIRED 

AMERICANS, 

Plaintiffs, 

Civil Action No. 5:20-cv-00577 

Related to Gloria et al. v. Hughs et al., 

No. 5:20-cv-00527 

vs. 

RUTH HUGHS, in her official capacity as 

Texas Secretary of State, 

Defendant. 

JOINT SCHEDULING PROPOSAL 

The Court issued an order on June 26, 2020 (Dkt. 27) directing the parties to confer 

and submit proposed scheduling orders for discovery and briefing regarding Plaintiffs’ 

Motion for Preliminary Injunction. Counsel for the parties conferred on July 1, 2020 but 

were unable to reach agreement on a proposed schedule. Accordingly, this joint submission 

contains a brief summary of each Party’s position and their proposed schedules. 

Position of Plaintiffs: 

Plaintiffs propose a five-week timeline for Defendants to complete discovery and 

briefing related to Plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction. Preliminary injunction 

motions, which provide litigants with temporary relief from imminent and irreparable 

injury, are time sensitive and require prompt resolution. Plaintiffs disagree with the 

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Secretary’s presentation of deadlines—for example, the Secretary’s motion for an 

extension of time points to September 19 (the date that UOCAVA requires military and 

overseas ballots to be mailed) as a date of import here, but UOCAVA is not germane to 

Plaintiffs’ claims for relief, and more broadly, Plaintiffs’ claims are generally not 

contingent on any ballot mailing deadline. In any event, to the extent that September 19 is 

a meaningful date, Plaintiffs’ proposed schedule allows for a hearing well before then, and 

of course far in advance of Election Day.1

 

Deadline for serving written discovery July 7, 2020 

Deadline for serving responses to written discovery July 20, 2020 

Deadline for taking depositions related to preliminary 

injunction motion2 July 24, 2020 

Deadline for Defendants’ response to preliminary 

injunction motion August 3, 2020 

Deadline for Plaintiffs’ reply in support of preliminary 

injunction motion August 10, 2020 

 

1

 To the extent Defendants insist on more time to respond to Plaintiffs’ preliminary 

injunction motion than the extended schedule above—which already provides over a month 

more time than the rules contemplate—Plaintiffs may agree to more time so long as 

Defendants agree not to claim that a more protracted briefing scheduling would then result 

in a decision from the Court that is then too close in time to Election Day to grant the relief 

that Plaintiffs seek. 

2

 Because this is a discovery schedule regarding a preliminary injunction motion, this is 

not the only window in which the parties would be able to take depositions. The date 

Plaintiffs propose here only concerns depositions that are reasonably necessary to support 

a Party’s preliminary injunction response or reply. 

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Position of Secretary Hughes: 

 As Secretary Hughs explained in her motion for an extension of time to file a 

response, she needs adequate time to conduct discovery on Plaintiffs’ claims before she 

can file a response. ECF 25. Plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction contains 300 

pages of exhibits, including declarations from four expert witnesses and 14 other fact 

witnesses. All of these witnesses need to be deposed for Secretary Hughs to test their 

allegations and fully respond to Plaintiffs’ claims. Likewise, to the extent that Secretary 

Hughs will also need to retain her own experts, her experts’ opinions will likely be shaped 

by the facts uncovered in discovery. Secretary Hughs anticipates that Plaintiffs will want 

the opportunity to file rebuttal expert reports, and Secretary Hughs will need an opportunity 

to respond in briefing to those rebuttal reports. 

 As such, Secretary Hughs proposes the following schedule: 

Discovery on Plaintiffs’ claims begins as soon as the Court enters a scheduling order. 

Deadline for Secretary Hughs to disclose expert witnesses 

used to respond to Plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary 

injunction 

September 2, 2020 

Deadline for Plaintiffs to disclose any rebuttal experts September 16, 2020 

Discovery cutoff for discovery related to Plaintiffs’ motion 

for a preliminary injunction September 23, 2020 

Deadline for Secretary Hughs’s response to Plaintiffs’ 

motion for a preliminary injunction September 30, 2020 

Deadline for Plaintiffs’ reply in support of their motion for 

a preliminary injunction October 7, 2020 

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Secretary Hughs makes no representation about how this schedule would affect the 

county election officials—third parties not in front of this Court—who are responsible for 

implementing the provisions that Plaintiffs challenge. See ECF 17. Secretary Hughs 

expressly reserves the argument that Plaintiffs are seeking injunctive relief too close to the 

election in violation of Purcell v. Gonzalez, 549 U.S. 1, 4 (2006) (per curiam). The time 

periods above are the absolute minimum required for Secretary Hughs to have notice and 

a meaningful opportunity to respond as required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 

65(a)(1). See PCI Trans., Inc. v. Ft. Worth & W. R. Co., 418 F.3d 535, 546 (5th Cir. 2005). 

 

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Dated: July 2, 2020 Respectfully submitted, 

/s/ Skyler M. Howton 

Skyler M. Howton, TX# 24077907 

PERKINS COIE LLP 

500 North Akard St., Suite 3300 

Dallas, TX 75201-3347 

Telephone: (214) 965-7700 

Facsimile: (214) 965-7799 

showton@perkinscoie.com

COUNSEL FOR PLAINTIFFS 

/s/ Patrick K. Sweeten 

Patrick K. Sweeten 

OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 

P.O. Box 12548 (MC-076) 

Austin, Texas 78711-2548 

Tel.: (512) 936-1414 

Fax: (512) 936-0545 

patrick.sweeten@oag.texas.gov

COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANT 

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 

 I HEREBY CERTIFY that on July 2, 2020, I electronically filed the foregoing with the 

Clerk of the Court by using the CM/ECF system, which will send a notice of electronic filing to 

all counsel of record. 

/s/ Skyler M. Howton 

Skyler M. Howton 

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