Arkansas Felon Joins Texas Bounty Hunt

 

It's been a while since we've read a lede like this instant classic from the WaPo:

"Arkansas officials who tangled for years with Oscar Stilley were surprised to see his name resurface in a Texas showdown over abortion this week, in part because they thought he was still serving time in federal prison."

Those who have followed news accounts of Texas' monstrous bounty hunter law that rewards private citizens for suing women seeking an abortion may recognize Stilley's name. For those who don't, the tax evading nutjob, well known in Arkansas for his endless, failed crusades against any and all taxes, has turned his attention to suing women and those assisting them under the Texas anti-choice law, being among the first to do so. He suit came by way of a column in the WaPo by Dr. Alan Braid, a San Antonio physician who acknowledged he violated the Texas law:

"Stilley sued after he read news reports about San Antonio physician Alan Braid, who came forward in a column in The Washington Post to say he had violated the ban, essentially inviting a lawsuit. Two other lawsuits also have been filed against Braid, including one from another disbarred lawyer in Illinois who says he favors abortion rights.

A state court ruling in any of the cases could eventually be appealed to the Texas Supreme Court and make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, setting up a direct legal test of the law’s constitutionality."

 Interestingly, he hasn't endeared himself to the Texas Taliban in the way he went about his lawsuit: 

"Stilley, 58, used his complaint in the Texas abortion lawsuit this week in part to detail his grievances with the criminal justice system and link to his website, which advertises legal support services and his book 'Busting the Feds.'

With renewed media attention, Stilley also circulated a photo he staged on his porch at home in Cedarville, where he is serving the remainder of his 15-year prison term because of the pandemic."  (our emphasis)

Quite the felonious hustler. But then, Texas' malicious bounty hunter law will draw them out of the woodwork until the law is struck down.