Say what you will about Ken Paxton, but he keeps himself busy.
The Texas attorney general cranks out lawsuits (and press releases about those lawsuits) in a truly impressive fashion, as he continues to audition for a position in president-elect Donald Trump’s administration.
And this week Paxton hit a milestone: his 100th legal complaint against the Biden-Harris Administration. Paxton claims this legal frenzy shows the shocking depth of federal “abuses of power,” and who better to point it out than the guy who’s made filing lawsuits his personal calling? (To be clear, his actual mandate as attorney general is to defend and enforce already-existing Texas laws.)
Speaking of “abuse” — Paxton used one of those lawsuits to stop a new Biden administration rule that protects kids from harassment and abuse. Cool!
“For the past four years, the Biden-Harris Administration routinely violated the Constitution to implement an agenda that harmed our Nation,” Paxton said, presumably while staring patriotically into the distance. “From unlawfully orchestrating the border invasion to attacking our oil and gas industries and illegally abusing taxpayer money to censor our own citizens, the federal government has been ruthlessly weaponized against the American people.”
Fascinating that Paxton would invoke the state’s Constitution, considering he was an election denier in 2020 and a few weeks ago was the only state attorney general in the whole country who didn’t promise to help ensure a peaceful transition of power before the results came down in Trump’s favor. And lest we forget, Paxton hasn’t been great at following laws either, personally or professionally. For starters, a federal judge ruled that Paxton’s “voter fraud” raids were unconstitutional. Oh, and under the guise of removing non-citizens from the voter rolls, he mistakenly removed actual citizens during said purge — including at least one Trump voter in Texas.
Texas’s least-favorite lawyer wasn’t trying to hear that, though. “We proudly led the Nation’s fight to uphold the rule of law and restore Constitutional rights when they were under attack,” Paxton said.
Paxton hit his big 100 by going after the Federal Communications Commission for daring to put a cap on phone and video call rates for prisoners. On November 1, Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi teamed up to sue the FCC, claiming that this rule not only steps on their states’ toes but is also “arbitrary” and “capricious” (that’s legal code for “we just don’t like it).” According to them, the FCC’s rule violates the Administrative Procedure Act, which is the federal government’s manual for following the rules while making new rules.
Though Paxton sues everybody — including Austin, Bexar County, doctors, and the State Fair of Texas — he has been hard at work trolling the Biden administration for years.
Back in January 2021, Paxton said he was the first state attorney general to file a lawsuit against the Biden Administration, suing over a deportation pause just two days into the new presidency. Since then, he said he’s managed to get rulings in his favor more than 75% of the time. Recently, he celebrated his victory over federal plans to reallocate border wall funds.
Meanwhile, the very same day Paxton celebrated his 100th lawsuit, he put out another release announcing another one. Good for him!
In suit No. 101, Paxton said he sued U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and the U.S. Department of Justice to prevent “potential destruction of any records from Jack Smith’s corrupt investigation into President Donald Trump.” We’re glad Paxton is so hard at work invoking Texas’ name and power for things that don’t really impact the lives of everyday Texans. Imagine if he used that energy responding to press inquiries! Fun fact: KXAN’s Ryan Chandler reported in October that Paxton’s office has responded to eight of 2700 emails from the press in the last 6 months — despite the fact that his communications director makes more than $213,000 per year (that’s more the White House press secretary). Those are expensive press releases! No wonder he sends out so many. Anyway, his impeachment attorney told the news station that Paxton’s press office, which — again, is accountable to the public, and paid for by the public — has probably stopped engaging with the media because he’s tired of seeing headlines about his various indictments.
President Trump, you don’t have any reason to listen to us, but please, give this guy a cabinet position, relocate him to Washington, D.C., and take him off our hands. We’re begging you. (Minutes after this story published, because nothing good ever happens, Trump announced he’d chosen Rep. Matt Gaetz as the 87th attorney general of the United States. Gaetz has been criminally charged with four federal felonies related to his efforts to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss and civilly accused of sexual misconduct.)
