CORPUS CHRISTI, Tx — A federal judge Monday ordered the City of Corpus Christi not to suspend Mayor Paulette Guajardo from office without first providing her a constitutional hearing, issuing a temporary restraining order hours before a city council meeting at which suspension was one of several possible actions.
U.S. District Judge George C. Hanks Jr. signed the order Monday, naming the City of Corpus Christi as the restrained party. It bars the city from voting to suspend Guajardo, enforcing any suspension without a pre-deprivation hearing, or taking any action to strip her of the authority of her office without complying with due process requirements under the Fourteenth Amendment.
The court scheduled a hearing on Guajardo's request for a preliminary injunction for Wednesday, April 15, at 9:30 a.m. The city must file a response by noon Tuesday. The TRO expires April 27.
Tuesday's council agenda item called for "discussion and/or possible actions on preliminary and procedural matters for removal proceedings of the mayor, including but not limited to potential certification of Articles of Impeachment, potential suspension, potential reprimand, potential denial of removal action, potential scheduling of pretrial hearing(s) and/or removal hearing, and/or a Resolution scheduling a pretrial hearing on May 19, 2026."
What the order means for those other agenda items was not addressed in the TRO.
The dispute stems from a 2024 city council vote to give Corpus Christi hotel developers $2 million in taxpayer money. A presentation used to support that decision included a doctored image from a federal flood map website. That alteration was investigated by the FBI, Texas Rangers and Corpus Christi Police Department. No charges were filed.
Residents who want the mayor removed argue she knew about the altered document and pushed the project forward anyway. They filed formal articles of impeachment in March, listing four accusations: that she aided a fraud, committed perjury, leaked confidential information, and ordered the deletion of public records. The mayor denies all of it.
The alteration was investigated by the FBI, Texas Rangers and Corpus Christi Police Department. No charges were filed.
By a 5-3 vote, the city council approved scheduling a meeting for April 14 to begin preliminary and procedural matters related to a petition filed by resident Rachel Caballero in August 2025.
On April 8, attorney John Flood, representing Guajardo, wrote to council members arguing the removal process cannot produce a legally valid outcome. Flood wrote that at least four council members who were present at the 2024 city council meetings where the alleged wrongdoing took place cannot participate as part of the tribunal making decisions, under Texas law. The city charter requires five votes to remove the mayor. If four members are disqualified, five votes are impossible. "When there is no legal basis for proceeding in this manner, the only basis left to support it must be political," Flood wrote in his April 8 letter.
On April 13, Corpus Christi attorney Douglas Allison — who represents David in the Homewood Suites civil lawsuit — sent a rebuttal letter to the same council members. Allison argued Flood misread the relevant court precedent and that the evidentiary rule cited by Flood applies only to whoever presides over the hearing, not to all council members who attended the 2024 meetings. "This only means that whomsoever presides over Mayor's public hearing must not be one of the City Council members who is a witness during the public hearing process," Allison wrote. He proposed appointing a presiding officer who did not serve on the council during that period as a remedy.
Wednesday's federal hearing will determine whether a broader preliminary injunction is warranted. The next Corpus Christi city council election is scheduled for November 2026.
