Attorney General Paxton joined a West Virginia-led comment letter opposing a proposed SEC rule that would institute new unconstitutional requirements on ESG-related investment advisors and companies. The new rule mandates that funds disclose the greenhouse gas emissions of their portfolio, among other arduous requirements. This thinly-veiled attempt to target certain industries not only violates the First Amendment and the SEC’s materiality requirement, but it also threatens to limit investment in the vital energy sectors that […]
Attorney General Paxton
Paxton Launches Investigation Into Ratings Company’s Use of ESG Factors That Potentially Violate Consumer Fraud and Anti-BDS Laws
Attorney General Paxton joined a Missouri-led multistate investigation into Morningstar, Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary, Sustainalytics, for potential violations of consumer protection and anti-Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) laws. This is the first investigation by state attorneys general into an Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) ratings company for alleged consumer fraud and unfair trade practices. “The ESG movement is the latest tool that woke corporations are using to push a radical and left-leaning social […]
Paxton Releases AG Opinion to Promote Election Integrity, Transparency
Attorney General Paxton released an opinion that outlines the formal process for a legislator or a member of the public to inspect or obtain copies of Texans’ anonymous voted ballots. By doing so, the opinion establishes a crucial new tool in the fight for free and fair elections and should boost confidence in Texas’s elections and promote transparency in government, while upholding voters’ constitutional right to a secret ballot. As Attorney General Paxton’s recent successful prosecution […]
AG Paxton Joins Amicus Brief Challenging CDC’s Transportation Mask Mandate
Attorney General Paxton joined a Florida-led amicus brief filed in the Atlanta-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit seeking to affirm a successful challenge to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Transportation Mask Mandate. The CDC is appealing a lower court’s order striking down the mandate. “‘No one doubts that the COVID–19 pandemic has posed challenges for every American,’” the brief says, quoting from the United States Supreme Court’s decision striking […]
Attorney General Paxton Announces the Formation of a Nationwide Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force
Attorney General Paxton today announced that the State of Texas is joining a nationwide Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force with 49 other states to investigate and take legal action against the telecommunications companies responsible for bringing a majority of foreign robocalls into the United States. This bipartisan nationwide Task Force has one goal: to cut down on illegal robocalls. The Task Force has issued 20 civil investigative demands to 20 gateway providers and other entities that […]
AG Paxton Announces $2.37 Billion Agreement to Settle with Former Opioid Maker
For the second time this week, Attorney General Paxton and a bipartisan group of attorneys general announced an agreement in principle to address the opioid crisis. The proposed settlement would require the former opioid maker Allergan to pay up to $2.37 billion to participating States and local governments. Once finalized, the combined Allergan and Teva settlements would provide as much as $6.6 billion nationwide. Both settlements remain contingent on resolution of key issues regarding the settlement structure. The parties are also negotiating terms […]
Opioids Maker Teva Agrees to $4.25 billion settlement: Preliminary Agreement Will Provide Cash and Naloxone to Address Opioids Crisis
Attorney General Paxton has reached an agreement on key financial terms with opioid maker Teva, which would provide up to $4.25 billion to participating states and local governments. While critical details of the settlement remain the subject of ongoing negotiations, Teva disclosed the key financial terms in its earnings announcement. Texas previously entered into a separate deal with Teva, which includes a provision that allows the state to benefit if those terms are more favorable. “This settlement […]
AG Paxton Supports SCOTUS Petition to Protect Jurors, Defend Federal Death Penalty Statute
Attorney General Paxton joined a Kentucky-led amicus brief to support Ohio’s petition for certiorari with the Supreme Court in the capital case Shoop v. Cunningham, No. 21-1587. The Cincinnati-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit adopted a view of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) that encourages harassment of jurors sitting in judgment on capital punishment cases because it invites evidence that impeaches the jury’s deliberations, which is both vague and inadmissible. The amicus brief argues that courts have long acknowledged the need to protect jurors from […]
AG Paxton Publishes New Guidance Upon Issuance of SCOTUS’s Dobbs Judgment
Today Attorney General Paxton released a guidance letter following the U.S. Supreme Court’s issuance of a judgment in the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v Wade. To read the Advisory, click here.
AG Paxton Secures Important Victory in Fifth Circuit Against Imposing Harmful Mask-Mandates on Kids
Yesterday Attorney General Paxton secured a ruling against imposing mask mandates on Texas children in violation of state law. In a win for Texas families and the rule of law, the New Orleans-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated a lower court’s injunction on Texas’s statewide mask-mandate ban and ordered the court to dismiss the underlying lawsuit. In July 2021, Governor Abbott published Executive Order No. GA-38. Among other things, the Order […]