His misdeeds and ill-gotten gains are astronomical yet I may have missed your mention of his harassment of not only the Texas House Democrats but specifically Beto O'Rourke and individuals who volunteer with PoweredxPeople.
The thing which just drives me crazy about Paxton is he has been doing this Trump thing of undermining the law and the entire purpose of our constitutions' right to be free of arbitrary and capricious government action. That is, lawyers and the government are not supposed to deviate from the letter and spirit of the law, - EVEN IF they don't like the outcome of the application of that law. This is because we should not be jerked around by a legal system which changes the rules to suit the political power. This leaves us unable to make a viable plan governing our actions to keep out of trouble with the law. What am I talking about?
The Texas Office of the AG is a civil enforcement agency. It is not a criminal prosecutor*. Yet, Paxton will not stop acting as if the AG office is a mini-DOJ. One of the things which outraged the professionals in the AG office was the fact that Paxton wanted them to "prosecute" the witnesses in the Paul case in order to help Paul. It's bad enough to try and protect a donor credibly accused of criminal behavior. It is much worse to do so when Texas law has not bestowed that power on Paxton. The whistleblowers refused to do cooperate in this "prosecution", as if they could even do that.
What did Paxton do? He bamboozled a very naive neophyte lawyer into doing it for him**. The Travis County Clerk knew the AG could not prosecute anyone directly. Texas law requires the AG to turn over its evidence of criminal wrongdoing uncovered during its legitimate jurisdictional duties to a local DA. This local DA has the sole power and discretion whether to pursue criminal charges.
Paxton's patsy went down to the Travis County clerk's office and bamboozled a low-level clerk into filing this so-called "prosecution", but the more senior clerks stopped it. That's when all hell broke loose back at the AG office.
But, in a way, Paxton has succeeded. Just as Trump has demonstrated, the rule of law does not defend itself. Real people have to call bullshit or a determined bad actor can actually give themselves powers they do not have by simply taking that power and not being physically stopped. This is the tragedy. Too many Texans think Paxton is fighting the good fight when he brazenly misuses his powers for personal partisan advantage. I haven't kept up with this, but I believe the Legislature has now provided a little more criminal jurisdiction for the AG office. That sure looks like an Orban-style authoritarian game plan to me.
He has completely destroyed the credibility and professionalism of not just the AG office, but of the legal profession and the court system. I fully expect (and demand) that whoever the Democratic nominee for AG is to educate the public about what the job really is and how Paxton's pursuit of his frivolous, political theater lawsuits has left his real job not done.
*There are always exceptions in the law. The AG has some very, very specific and sort of rare instances when it has criminal jurisdiction.
**This kid passed the bar, but he apparently slept through some classes in law school.
It's come to my attention that this article, as deplorable as it is, will need a Part Two.
Stay tuned.
His misdeeds and ill-gotten gains are astronomical yet I may have missed your mention of his harassment of not only the Texas House Democrats but specifically Beto O'Rourke and individuals who volunteer with PoweredxPeople.
Yes. I missed a lot. I missed his attacks on transgender kids, too. Anything I missed wasn't intentional; it was just getting long.
I think I'll have to do a part two.
Can't wait!!!
The thing which just drives me crazy about Paxton is he has been doing this Trump thing of undermining the law and the entire purpose of our constitutions' right to be free of arbitrary and capricious government action. That is, lawyers and the government are not supposed to deviate from the letter and spirit of the law, - EVEN IF they don't like the outcome of the application of that law. This is because we should not be jerked around by a legal system which changes the rules to suit the political power. This leaves us unable to make a viable plan governing our actions to keep out of trouble with the law. What am I talking about?
The Texas Office of the AG is a civil enforcement agency. It is not a criminal prosecutor*. Yet, Paxton will not stop acting as if the AG office is a mini-DOJ. One of the things which outraged the professionals in the AG office was the fact that Paxton wanted them to "prosecute" the witnesses in the Paul case in order to help Paul. It's bad enough to try and protect a donor credibly accused of criminal behavior. It is much worse to do so when Texas law has not bestowed that power on Paxton. The whistleblowers refused to do cooperate in this "prosecution", as if they could even do that.
What did Paxton do? He bamboozled a very naive neophyte lawyer into doing it for him**. The Travis County Clerk knew the AG could not prosecute anyone directly. Texas law requires the AG to turn over its evidence of criminal wrongdoing uncovered during its legitimate jurisdictional duties to a local DA. This local DA has the sole power and discretion whether to pursue criminal charges.
Paxton's patsy went down to the Travis County clerk's office and bamboozled a low-level clerk into filing this so-called "prosecution", but the more senior clerks stopped it. That's when all hell broke loose back at the AG office.
But, in a way, Paxton has succeeded. Just as Trump has demonstrated, the rule of law does not defend itself. Real people have to call bullshit or a determined bad actor can actually give themselves powers they do not have by simply taking that power and not being physically stopped. This is the tragedy. Too many Texans think Paxton is fighting the good fight when he brazenly misuses his powers for personal partisan advantage. I haven't kept up with this, but I believe the Legislature has now provided a little more criminal jurisdiction for the AG office. That sure looks like an Orban-style authoritarian game plan to me.
He has completely destroyed the credibility and professionalism of not just the AG office, but of the legal profession and the court system. I fully expect (and demand) that whoever the Democratic nominee for AG is to educate the public about what the job really is and how Paxton's pursuit of his frivolous, political theater lawsuits has left his real job not done.
*There are always exceptions in the law. The AG has some very, very specific and sort of rare instances when it has criminal jurisdiction.
**This kid passed the bar, but he apparently slept through some classes in law school.
He is awful, but the Republicans I am seeing at the polls seem to be quite excited about Chip Roy, it is all going to get worse.
🤮🤮
This one is dynamite, Michelle!!! Thank you SO MUCH!!! Just shared on bsky.