Texas AG Ken Paxton ‘very active’ in litigation with Biden administration

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is a busy man. The conservative lawyer has already sued the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden several times this year.

He was also embroiled in his own personal legal scandals throughout much of his tenure.

To some Texans, Paxton may seem like an unusual choice for AG, but how unique is he?

Paxton is certainly a staunch conservative and protector of the state’s business interests, said Brent Boya, professor and chair of political science at the University of Texas at Arlington.

“A lot of what he did in terms of lawsuits was multi-state,” he said. “That’s the norm, at least from what I’ve seen, and that’s why he’s been very, very active as Attorney General in litigation with the administration.”

For a man supposed to represent law and order on the Lone Star staff, Paxton faced a significant amount of personal legal trouble. He was charged with securities fraud in 2015 and was implicated in a recent exposure case.

Last month, Paxton agreed to fork out about $3.3 million in a settlement involving several of his former senior deputies, who allege they were unfairly fired. Aides charged Paxton with malpractice and bribery—charges, noteworthy, which Paxton denied. It is currently unclear whether Texas taxpayers will participate in the settlement.

Also in February: Washington, D.C. officials from the Department of Justice took control of Paxton’s corruption investigation over U.S. Attorney’s San Antonio diversion, according to Texas Tribune.

From Boya’s point of view, such a big legal headache is not exactly standard for the state’s AG.

“How normal is this – no, it’s not normal,” he said. “This is what I think, just from my point of view, not what you are going to find all over the country. That’s a lot of lawsuits involving the state’s top lawyer.”

Paxton’s personal legal hesitations likely hurt his reputation among some Texans, Boye said, but clearly not enough to stop him from seeking re-election last November. The Democrats thought they had a chance to nominate Rochelle Garza, but Paxton still won by almost 12 points.

Boya said state attorneys general “really often” file lawsuits against the presidential administration, especially if they are on the other side of the partisan divide. According to him, as of February 25, there were 63 lawsuits against Biden in several states.

“We live in a polarized time,” he said. “There are red states and blue states. There are states that are very concerned about immigration – like California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas – and those states will have disagreements with the administration.”

“Of course, at first glance, this smacks of conflict of interest and corruption.” – Sanford Levinson, UT Law Professor

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Paxton is not the only Texas Republican group that has campaigned for the federal government, said Sanford Levinson, a legal scholar and professor at the University of Texas Law School. During his time in this role, now Governor. Greg Abbott once described his job like this: “I go to the office. I’m suing the federal government. Then I go home.”

Despite this, Levinson believes that Paxton is a “advertising scout”.

“I don’t know how often he actually expects to win cases. [as much as he is] building his reputation as a person who fights the administration and receives political capital from this,” he said. “This is also the case when, thanks to [former President] Donald Trump, there are some very, very conservative judges in Texas federal and district courts who are quite receptive to some of these lawsuits.”

Levinson noted that even lawsuits that are considered “crazy” stand a chance of winning if they are heard by the right judge. Paxton most likely wouldn’t have filed a lawsuit in Austin, for example, but would have targeted Amarillo instead.

In late January, Bloomberg Law reported that Paxton would face an ethics suit from the state bar as a result of an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in court. Levinson suggests the case was “a cynical and successful attempt to curry favor” with Trump.

“It’s almost impossible for me to imagine that [Paxton] thought he could win any of those lawsuits, and of course he didn’t,” he said. “But he certainly won Trump’s love.”

Referring to Trump’s base appears to have done Paxton a huge benefit. Levinson pointed to last year’s AG Republican primary: Paxton was able to crush then-land commissioner George P. Bush—a member of the Bush family’s political dynasty—who was once considered a serious candidate.

To Levinson, the fact that Texas taxpayers have been asked to pay millions for Paxton’s own alleged misconduct seems unusual.

“It may have happened before, but at first glance it definitely smacks of conflict of interest and corruption,” Levinson said. “But you know, a lot of people would say it’s just Paxton: the most corrupt attorney general in our history.”