A federal judge ruled Tuesday that most of the claims former Alamo Trust CEO Kate Rogers made in her lawsuit against Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham can move ahead in court, the Express-News reports.
Rogers filed her suit in U.S. District Court in San Antonio last fall, alleging the two Republican officeholders violated her free speech rights by forcing her from her job at the Alamo Trust, which oversees the historic San Antonio battle site.
Rogers resigned last October after Patrick — who’s repeatedly tried to put a right-wing stamp on how the story of the Alamo is conveyed — publicly excoriated her over a 2023 grad-school dissertation she wrote in which she discussed the importance of indigenous people in the Alamo’s history.
In Tuesday’s ruling, U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez swatted down the majority of motions the defendants filed to have Rogers’ accusations tossed out of court, according to the Express-News. He said he accusations that Patrick and Buckingham used their power over the nonprofit Alamo Trust to target Rogers are credible enough to go to trial.
The win is procedural and not a final ruling on the case, the Express-News points out. Even so, Rogers’ attorney, Lawrence Morales II, told the daily he and his client are “very pleased” with Rodriguez’s decision.
In her petition, Rogers asks to be reinstated in her leadership role at the Alamo Trust, which she held for four years. She also seeks unspecified damages from Patrick, Buckingham and the organization’s board for violating her First Amendment rights.
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