Prosecutors again filed another appeal this time with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. [191] With the second dismissal of the case with prejudice, the SEC could not bring new action on the same claim against Paxton. "[49] The Supreme Court heard the case, United States v. Texas, and issued a split 4-4 ruling in the case in June 2016. Paxton sued the Obama administration over a new rule by the United States Department of Labor which would make five million additional workers eligible for overtime pay. In that meeting, Mateer told me I didnt have the authority to sign contracts. Paxton has said the new regulations "may lead to disastrous consequences for our economy." Paxton says the required reductions would cost the state jobs, push electricity costs too high, and threaten reliability on the electrical grid. Paxton said that if elected speaker, he would take "bold action in defense of our conservative values. [159], Paxton unsuccessfully sought to quash the indictments. The law imposes penalties on local officials who place restrictions on their police forces or other agencies' cooperation with immigration enforcement, and requires county jails to honor requests from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to hold detainees suspected of being eligible for deportation. The new rule would mean workers earning up to an annual salary of $47,500 would become eligible for overtime pay when working more than 40 hours per week. He tried to get a Harris County elections official indicted and tried for alleged interference with a poll watcher, attempting to obtain that indictment in Montgomery County. Two bills filed in the Texas House of Representatives seek to expand the Texas attorney generals power to prosecute election crimes. [11] Paxton won the attorney general's election without the endorsement of a single Texas newspaper. [171], In November 2018, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals invalidated the trial court's order approving of payments of attorneys' fees to the special prosecutors in the case, and directed the lower court to issue payments "in accordance with an approved fee schedule," siding with county commissioners in Paxton's home county of Collin County, who had rejected the prosecutors's invoice. Mateer eventually gave Paxton a big stack of papers with policies related to contracts.. [176] The trial court granted the motion, but in 2020, the 1st Court of Appeals in Houston blocked the case from being moved to Collin County pending further consideration of the matter. His statement said, "I will do everything I can from this office to be a public voice for those standing in defense of their rights. In February 2017, officials in Bexar County said there have been no major cases of voter fraud in San Antonio. [114] Hervis was not charged in Harris County, Texas, county. Let us hope" (editorial), State of Texas v. Chris Hollins, 620 S.W.3d 400 (Tex. In January 2022, the Travis County district attorney gave Paxton four days to comply or face a lawsuit. [51] The other Attorneys General who joined in making the threats to Trump included Steve Marshall of Alabama, Leslie Rutledge of Arkansas, Lawrence Wasden of Idaho, Derek Schmidt of Kansas, Jeff Landry of Louisiana, Doug Peterson of Nebraska, Alan Wilson of South Carolina, and Patrick Morrisey of West Virginia. Texas Secretary of State (November 6, 2018). [137][138][139][140] Paxton has called the pardon speculation "an absurdly laughable conspiracy theory" and said the lawsuit is about election integrity. Attorney General Ken Paxton released a formal attorney general opinion concluding that performing certain sex-change procedures on children, and prescribing puberty-blockers to them, is child abuse under Texas law. His parents and their three children lived in a trailer, often without air conditioning, parked outside wherever his father was temporarily stationed. A lifelong football fan, Paxton carried a jersey autographed by Bill Bates, formerly of the Dallas Cowboys. Instead, the official said such voters should have been required to cast provisional ballots. [64], Paxton sued the Obama administration over a new rule by the United States Department of Labor which would make five million additional workers eligible for overtime pay. a majority-minority community. The year after, the unit did not secure a single human trafficking conviction and only four in 2020. [89] During that same month, according to a report by The Washington Post, Paxton's office requested a list of citizens who had changed their gender on their driver's licenses, circumventing the accepted procedure of contacting DPS government relations and general counsel's offices by instead directly contacting the driver license division staff. Paxton won the office of attorney general in 2014 despite already being involved in a major criminal scandal. Paxton sided with the aide, who won in court. [172][173] After the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals declined to reconsider the motion,[174] one of three prosecutors pursuing criminal charges against Paxton asked to step down from the case. [116] Paxton explained, "But I think the good thing about finding it, and doing a thorough job of investigation and prosecution, is at least you send the message to people that if you're going to do this, there is some risk that youre going to end up in prison for committing voter fraud. "[58] Paxton has said that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is trying to "force Texas to change how we regulate energy production" through an "unprecedented expansion of federal authority. Andrea Zelinski, "Paxton's SEC charge dismissed: No 'legal duty' to disclose commission, Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, scientific consensus is that the earth is warming and human activity is primarily responsible, Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, stormed the United States Capitol building, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, "Ken Paxton wins third term as attorney general, beating Democrat Rochelle Garza", "Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, endorsed by Trump, wins Republican primary", "Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is headed to a runoff against George P. Bush", "Seven Years Later, Still No Trial for Texas AG Ken Paxton", "The Most Important Attorney General And Secretary Of State Races To Watch", "As Ken Paxton faces criminal allegations, an agency at war with itself must carry on the state's business", AP Sources: FBI is investigating Texas attorney general, Trump thought courts were key to winning. At various times, they lived in Florida, New York, North Carolina, California, and Oklahoma. Paxton became a candidate for Texas attorney general when the incumbent Greg Abbott decided to run for governor to succeed the retiring Rick Perry. arj [7][8], After Joe Biden won the 2020 U.S. presidential election and Donald Trump refused to concede while making false claims of election fraud, Paxton aided Trump in his efforts to overturn the result, from filing the unsuccessful Texas v. Pennsylvania case in the U.S. Supreme Court to speaking at the rally Trump held on January 6, 2021, that immediately preceded the 2021 U.S. Capitol attack. In October 2020, seven of Paxton's top aides published a letter to the office's director of human resources, accusing Paxton of improper influence, abuse of office, bribery and other crimes, and said they had provided information to law enforcement and asked them to investigate. I want people to be treated fairly, so they shouldn't just have their land taken from them," but there must be just compensation. [192] The dismissal of the SEC case did not have a direct impact on the state criminal case, which remained pending. "[104], By February 2017as part of his "crusade" against voter fraud[105] Paxton sought to investigate 2016 Texas voting recordssuch as access to individual voting history and application materials for voter registrationsto uncover potential voter fraud, for example, voting by non-citizens or in the name of the deceased. [50], In July 2017, Paxton led a group of Republican Attorneys General and Idaho Governor Butch Otter in threatening the Trump administration that they would litigate if the president did not terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy that had been put into place by president Barack Obama, although never implemented in Texas because of legal action on behalf of the state. He paid the ensuing $1,000 fine, but it was just the tip of a series of investigations into Paxtons behavior . [43], Paxton defended Texas in a federal lawsuit involving allegations that Texas's congressional districts were gerrymandered. [12] In filings in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court, Paxton argued that the orderwhich places a 90-day ban on the issuance of visas to traveled from six designated majority-Muslim countries, imposes a 120-day halt on the admission of refugees to the U.S., and caps annual refugee admissions to 50,000 peopleis constitutionally and legally valid. Paxton called the injunction "a victory for the preservation of the sanctity of attorney-client confidentiality". No reason was given for this request. The letter was signed by First Assistant Attorney General Jeff Mateer. [107] Fort Bend County's top elections official said that these cases are not voter fraud, noting that only those who were registered to vote qualified for an affidavit, and that "poll workers were trained to 'err on the side of letting people use the affidavit instead of denying them the chance to vote. [39], In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Paxton threatened to file lawsuits against local governments unless they rescinded stay-at-home orders and rescinded rules regarding the use of face masks to combat the spread of coronavirus. Paxton's indictment marked the first such criminal indictment of a Texas Attorney General in thirty-two years since Texas Attorney General Jim Mattox was indicted for briberyin 1983. Rogers had received media coverage as a "national hero" for waiting six hours in a line at Houston's Texas Southern University in Harris County, Texas in order to vote in the March 2020 Democratic presidential primary election. 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