Attorney General Paxton has sued Google, alleging that the tech giant has unlawfully captured and used the biometric data of millions of Texans without properly obtaining their informed consent to do so. The lawsuit alleges that Google, in yet another violation of Texans’ privacy, has collected millions of biometric identifiers, including voiceprints and records of face geometry, from Texans through its products and services like Google Photos, Google Assistant, and Nest Hub Max. Google’s exploitation of the […]
Attorney General Paxton
Paxton Fights to Protect Religious Freedom of Couple Being Forced to Participate in Wedding That Violates Faith
Attorney General Paxton has joined an Oklahoma-led cert-stage amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear Klein v. Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries and protect the religious liberty of a couple being targeted for their faith. The amicus brief defends a couple who declined to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex wedding and were then adjudged to have violated Oregon’s public-accommodation law. The Constitution protects individuals from being coerced against their will to use their artistic gifts and […]
Paxton Sends Letter to Biden Admin Criticizing Unlawful Rule that Forces States to Adopt Woke Gender Policies
Attorney General Paxton joined a Tennessee-led comment letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra demanding that HHS scrap its proposed rule, which expands Section 1557 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act far beyond what was ever intended. Section 1557 prohibits discrimination “on the basis of sex.” The proposed HHS rule would radically change the long-understood definition of “sex,” which has been based on biology, to include “gender identity” or “sexual orientation.” This presents many problems, such as putting free speech at risk, threatening religious […]
Paxton Joins Amicus Brief to Protect Rule of Law and Punish Those Who Encourage Illegal Immigration and Other Serious Crimes
Attorney General Paxton has joined an Arizona-led cert-stage amicus brief petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down a recent decision by the San Francisco-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that threatens public safety across the country. In United States v. Hansen, the Ninth Circuit struck down a federal statute that makes it illegal for an individual to “encourage” or “induce” illegal immigration. By striking the statute down on overbreadth grounds, the Ninth Circuit has created a dangerous precedent that threatens to do more than just increase illegal immigration. Historically, the federal […]
Paxton Launches Investigation into S&P Global’s Use of ESG Factors in Credit Ratings, Potentially Violating Consumer Protection Laws
Attorney General Paxton joined a Missouri-led multistate investigation into S&P Global Inc. for potential violations of consumer protection laws. This is the second investigation by state attorneys general into a company providing Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) ratings, based upon alleged consumer fraud and deceptive trade practices. S&P’s published ESG credit indicators, ESG scores, and ESG evaluations appear to politicize what should be a purely financial decision and may deceptively confound the distinction between subjective opinions […]
Paxton Encourages FCC to Adopt Rules Protecting Americans from Illegal Robocalls, Helping Prevent Billions Lost from Scammers
Attorney General Paxton signed a multistate comment letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) urging them to adopt stricter controls to prevent unsolicited robocalls. In May 2022, the FCC placed new obligations upon gateway providers, which are the points of entry for foreign illegal robocalls entering the U.S. telephone network. Attorney General Paxton is now calling for some of those same protections to be applied to all intermediate voice service providers based in the United States. The new proposed rules would require every U.S.-based intermediate provider to adopt STIR/SHAKEN protocols, a vital robocall prevention tool that allows for the […]
Paxton Sends Letter to U.S. Senate Demanding Rejection of a Bill that Would Undermine States’ Authority and American Energy
Attorney General Paxton has joined a Louisiana-led coalition in strongly opposing the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2022 and sending a letter to Senator Chuck Schumer and Senator Mitch McConnell expressing the reasons for such opposition. The Act would allow the Biden Administration, largely through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), to run roughshod over states’ rights by advancing a radically impractical energy agenda, all while forcing taxpayers to foot the bill. This would be done in three fundamental and extremely dangerous ways. […]
Paxton Works to Safeguard First Amendment Protections for Religious Group Facing Illegal Discrimination
Attorney General Paxton has joined an Alabama-led multistate amicus brief in the Atlanta-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, fighting to defend the First Amendment rights of a Jewish synagogue facing unconstitutional discrimination. The case revolves around the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority (HART), a publicly-funded transit system, that refused to allow Young Israel of Tampa to advertise its “Chanukah on Ice” program pursuant to a policy banning religious advertising. After the district court enjoined its policy, HART appealed to the Eleventh Circuit. As the courts have ruled on several occasions, public entities violate the First […]
Paxton Files Amicus Brief Defending President Trump’s Constitutional Rights After Biden DOJ’s Unprecedented Raid
Attorney General Paxton is leading a multistate coalition in filing an amicus brief in the Atlanta-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in support of President Donald Trump, seeking to ensure the return of privileged documents taken during the Biden Administration’s unprecedented raid. After President Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) ransacked the home of a former—and potential future—political opponent, President Trump requested a special master to determine if items protected by attorney-client privilege and executive privilege were taken. A federal district court subsequently appointed a special master and prevented the […]
Paxton Takes Action to Stop Woke Courts From Destroying Women’s Sports
Attorney General Paxton has joined an Alabama-led amicus brief in the Chicago-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, defending an Indiana law that prevents biological men from competing in women’s athletics. The case, A.M. v. Indianapolis Public Schools, moved up to the Seventh Circuit after a federal district court judge ruled in favor of a biological male wanting to compete on a female softball team. The male student, who claims to be female, alleged that Indiana’s biological definition of sex–which is premised on objective reproductive biology–constituted a Title IX violation because it contradicted the individual’s subjective gender […]