I take some comfort in the term "pretext."

Last night on TV, the talking heads were referring to the "cause" cited in the attempted firing of governor Cook as a "pretext," as if that were a well understood legal concept. I hope it is. I hope we're not victims of literalism. We all know that the reason for this action is not how she filled out a mortgage form. It sounded like, in some instances, at least, people weren't allowed to use pretexts as legal justifications. True?