Texas taxpayers will likely have to pay for the $6.7 million judgment filed against the Texas Attorney General's Office in the whistleblower case. 

Travis County Judge Catherine Mauzy filed the judgment more than one week ago. 

Four plaintiffs were among Attorney General Ken Paxton's former top, hand-picked lieutenants he fired after they went to the FBI four and a half years ago to report potential wrongdoing. Texas taxpayers will pick up the tab if lawmakers agree to fund it. 

The legislature didn't do so two years ago when a $3.3 million settlement was reached in this case between the whistleblowers and the AG's office. However, lawmakers chose not to fund the settlement, and costs have jumped dramatically.

"The court finds that Plaintiffs have proved liability, damages, and reasonable and necessary attorney's fees by a preponderance of the evidence," Mauzy said in her ruling. "OAG [Office of Attorney General] by and through its counsel of record elected not to dispute the Plaintiff's lawsuit as to any issue, including any issue of fact in this case as to the claim or damages." 

In a statement about the judgment, Paxton said, "A liberal Austin judge wants the people of Texas to pay even more for the Phelan-Biden corrupt impeachment scheme with a ridiculous judgment that is not based on the facts or the law. We will appeal this bogus ruling as we continue to clean up Dade Phelan's mess."

Republican State Rep. Mitch Little from Lewisville, one of Paxton's attorneys during his impeachment trial, said lawmakers shouldn't pick up the tab. 

"Not a chance in heck. If you look at what's going on all over the state of Texas, we're in the middle of a property tax crisis. There's an affordability crisis that's going on. The average person is trying to stay in their home. They're trying to be able to afford their daily life," Little said. "It just doesn't make sense for the people of Texas to have to pay this out of their own tax dollars. The judge made those findings in that case because the Attorney General decided not to defend the case, which was a strategic decision. Ultimately, the whistleblowers are going to end up with a piece of paper, and they've got to ask 150 members in the Texas House to vote to fund that judgment." 

State Sen. Nathan Johnson, D-Dallas, disagreed. 

"It's been a long time coming. These were dedicated state employees," said Johnson. "They were wrongfully discharged for performing their duties and acting ethically, and I feel for them. I feel for what they've been through, and I think they've finally seen a just result. When you look at the injustice of asking taxpayers to pay for the wrongdoing of a public official, it's galling. But you also have to look at it from the standpoint of somebody who works for the government, who dedicated their life to public service and has been wronged, wrongfully terminated by the government itself and for the government. Then to say to you as a wrongfully terminated public servant, sorry we're not going to pay your damages strikes me as even more galling. So I do think that money to pay that settlement has to come from the office of Attorney General."

In a statement about the judgment, the Attorney General vowed to appeal. 

"A liberal Austin judge wants the people of Texas to pay even more for the Phelan/Biden corrupt impeachment scheme with a ridiculous judgment that is not based on the facts or the law. We will appeal this bogus ruling as we continue to clean up Dade Phelan's mess," Paxton said. 

In response, one of the plaintiff whistleblowers, Blake Brickman said in a post on X: "Paxton now wants to appeal? He literally already admitted he broke the law to the Supreme Court of Texas and the Travis County District Court - all to stop his own deposition. Truly lawless and shameless." 

Originally, the whistleblowers and the Attorney General's Office agreed on a settlement for $3.3 million, but the legislature decided against paying for it two years ago, and so plaintiffs continued their lawsuit. The House then investigated and impeached Paxton, and when you add it all up, the judgment, and costs to the House and other state agencies, it reportedly cost taxpayers more than $12 million.

The Associated Press has reported that during the final weeks of the Biden administration, prosecutors decided they would not file criminal charges against Paxton. The Attorney General has denied any wrongdoing and called it a witch-hunt by Democrats and former Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan.

The civil judgment will have to be paid by state lawmakers, and if they don't, the judge said the state will be charged seven and a half percent interest each year they don't pay.

Watch Eye On Politics at 7:30 Sunday morning on CBS News Texas on air and streaming. 

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