Tag Archives: Attorney General

This is why you don’t put a crook in charge of enforcing the law

Posted on July 17, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Y’all, Ken Paxton. For the past two and a half years, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has declined to sue hundreds of candidates and elected officials who altogether owe more than $700,000 to the state in unpaid fines for campaign … Continue reading →

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UH/Hobby Center: Abbott 49, Beto 44

Posted on July 14, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

This one is post-Dobbs. In the race for governor, Republican Greg Abbott leads Democrat Beto O’Rourke by 5% among likely voters, 49% to 44%, with 5% undecided and 2% intending to vote for Libertarian Mark Tippetts. More than nine out … Continue reading →

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Who gets to judge Volkswagen?

Posted on July 13, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Fascinating little legal cul-de-sac here. German car manufacturers Volkswagen and Audi — facing a lawsuit from Texas that could cost the companies millions stemming from the emissions cheating scheme uncovered in 2015 — argue that Gov. Greg Abbott could unfairly … Continue reading →

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More on finding Baby Holly

Posted on July 10, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Everything about this story continues to fascinate me. How did investigators find Holly Marie Clouse? It all came down to a question about spelling — and a birth certificate. In January, genealogists identified the bodies of Harold Dean Clouse and Tina … Continue reading →

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Paxton escapes open records lawsuit

Posted on July 6, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Sheesh. The Travis County district attorney’s office will not proceed with a lawsuit against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for refusing to release his communications around the time of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Despite determining that the attorney general … Continue reading →

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SCOTx re-enables statewide abortion ban

Posted on July 3, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Ugh. The Texas Supreme Court has blocked a lower court order that had allowed clinics in the state to continue performing abortions even after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned it’s landmark 1973 ruling that confirmed a constitutional right to abortion. … Continue reading →

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Temporary restraining order granted to abortion clinics in trigger lawsuit

Posted on June 29, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Some abortions are temporarily legal in Texas again. Abortions up to about six weeks in pregnancy can resume at some clinics in Texas for now after a Harris County District Court judge granted a temporary restraining order that blocks an … Continue reading →

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Lawsuit filed over Texas trigger law implementation

Posted on June 28, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

One last fight before the curtain comes down. Texas abortion providers are making a last-ditch effort to temporarily resume procedures by challenging a pre-Roe v. Wade abortion ban that has not been enforced for nearly a half-century, but that some … Continue reading →

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DAs are not going to be able to avoid enforcing anti-abortion laws

Posted on June 28, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

I appreciate the sentiment, but that’s not how it works. Even before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on Friday, local prosecutors in several of the largest Texas counties vowed not to file criminal charges in abortion-related cases, seemingly offering hope … Continue reading →

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Roe v Wade

Posted on June 25, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

You don’t need me to tell you what happened yesterday, or what is likely to come. Abortion is still technically legal for another 29 days in Texas, when the trigger law kicks in, but many clinics have already stopped providing … Continue reading →

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Where are we with the Paxton whistleblower lawsuit?

Posted on June 22, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

We are in the familiar position of waiting for the drawn-out appeals process to conclude. Pull up a chair and make yourself comfortable. The appeals process has grown a bit longer in state Attorney General Ken Paxton’s effort to dismiss a whistleblower lawsuit by … Continue reading →

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Look for the grifters

Posted on June 19, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

In any rightwing political movement, there will always be grifters. It’s absolutely an ants-to-a-picnic situation. Over the last two presidential election cycles, True the Vote has raised millions in donations with claims that it discovered tide-turning voter fraud. It’s promised … Continue reading →

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C’mon, we should get to see the city’s after-action report on the freeze

Posted on June 13, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

This is silly. Houston will not release its retrospective report on the 2021 winter freeze, citing a post-9/11 law shielding information that could be exposed by terrorists or criminals. The city drafted a report, called “After-Action Report/Improvement Plans for the 2021 Winter … Continue reading →

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Long lost daughter of Tina Linn and Dean Clouse found

Posted on June 11, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Incredible. Absolutely incredible. Donna Casasanta got the call this week, a call she’s spent half of her life praying for. A call about Holly Marie. More than 40 years ago, her son, Harold Dean Clouse, moved to Texas from New … Continue reading →

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Is he Elon Musk’s lawyer now?

Posted on June 8, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Someone please explain this to me. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Monday he is investigating Twitter over its reporting of how many accounts on the platform are from bots and fake users, saying the company may be misrepresenting the … Continue reading →

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Runoff results: Around the state

Posted on May 25, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

After the primary, I rounded up the Democratic runoffs we’d have in May. I’m going to use that post to round up the results from last night, as best as I can tell as of when I gave up the … Continue reading →

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On the importance of the Democratic AG runoff

Posted on May 18, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

We have two good choices in this race. Whoever wins, we need to fully support them in November. Rochelle Garza locked hands with her mother and marched through Dallas at a reproductive rights rally this month to let voters know … Continue reading →

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DMN/UT-Tyler: Abbott 46, Beto 39

Posted on May 17, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s the story, which I currently can’t access. A very brief summary of it is in this Current article. The data is here and I’m going to riff on that, with references to the February version of this poll, for … Continue reading →

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Ken Paxton totally lied about gender affirming care

Posted on May 5, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

I know, I’m as shocked as you are. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton relied on false claims, exaggerations and errors to conclude that gender-affirming medical care constitutes child abuse, a report by university-level medical experts has concluded. Paxton’s legal opinion … Continue reading →

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Abbott and Patrick ask SCOTx to take up Paxton’s whistleblower appeal

Posted on April 27, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

They sort of have a point, but they should still butt out. Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Monday urged the Supreme Court of Texas to take up Attorney General Ken Paxton’s appeal to throw out a … Continue reading →

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Where are the endorsements?

Posted on April 26, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

As you know, early voting has begun for the May 7 election, which includes two Constitutional amendments and the special election for HCC District 2. As of last night when I drafted this, I see no endorsements in any of … Continue reading →

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Paxton threatens HISD over its COVID sick leave policy

Posted on April 19, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

We live in such stupid times. Attorney General Ken Paxton and Republicans in the Legislature are taking aim at Houston ISD, arguing that the district’s COVID sick day policy violates state law. This academic year, Houston ISD is offering 10 … Continue reading →

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Feds warn about lawsuits to come over anti-trans legislation

Posted on April 9, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Bring it. The Department of Justice is warning states like Texas that policies meant to block transgender children from receiving gender-affirming care violate their constitutional rights. “Intentionally erecting discriminatory barriers to prevent individuals from receiving gender-affirming care implicates a number … Continue reading →

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Hispanic Policy Foundation: Abbott 50, Beto 42

Posted on April 8, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

More poll data. In the November 2022 gubernatorial election, Greg Abbott leads Beto O’Rourke by 8% (50% to 42%) among likely voters and by 12% (53% to 41%) among the most likely (almost certain) voters. Among both groups, Libertarian Mark … Continue reading →

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The dark side of redistricting litigation

Posted on April 5, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

The state of Texas is taking a big swing in defense of its gerrymanders, and if they connect it’s going to be devastating. Beyond the immediate legal fight over whether Texas lawmakers again discriminated against voters of color when drawing … Continue reading →

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Paxton accused of creating a hostile workplace for LGBTQ employees at the AG’s office

Posted on April 5, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

. However, the portion of the letter that detailed the lawyer’s allegations of political taint was redacted by the AG’s office, which provided the letter to us under the Public Information Act. We still hope to see that. — Chuck … Continue reading →

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Paxton “investigating” pharmaceuticals over puberty blockers

Posted on March 29, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Also from last week, I don’t know if this is something to worry about or just blowing smoke. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is investigating two pharmaceutical companies — Endo Pharmaceuticals and AbbVie Inc. — for allegedly advertising puberty blockers … Continue reading →

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When a divorce helps to define a marriage

Posted on March 21, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Interesting case. A gay San Antonio man has filed for a divorce in which he seeks to prove a common law marriage existed with his former partner of 25 years when federal law prohibited same sex marriage. The law has … Continue reading →

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Not just Beto for marijuana legalization

Posted on March 21, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

The two Democrats in the runoff for Attorney General are also on board. As the May 24 runoff approaches, both Democrats in the runoff for Texas Attorney General have doubled down on their promises to legalize cannabis in the state. … Continue reading →

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A trifecta of crap from the Fifth Circuit

Posted on March 18, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

It’s what they do. A federal appeals court has ruled for Texas in three lawsuits challenging the state’s voting laws, including mail-in ballot provisions and the elimination of straight-ticket voting. In a series of 2-1 rulings Wednesday evening, a panel … Continue reading →

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Texas sues to keep federal funds that would be denied for bullying trans kids

Posted on March 13, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

The utter gall, it’s breathtaking. Texas is worried it could lose over a billion dollars in federal funding over Gov. Greg Abbott’s directive requiring medical professionals to report transgender children receiving gender-affirming health care as potential child abuse. Texas Attorney … Continue reading →

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More on Tina Linn and Harold Clouse

Posted on March 13, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Very moving stuff. Donna Casasanta picked through the brush in an overgrown patch of woods in northeast Harris County, looking. The 80-year-old mother had spent 40 years wondering. She had traveled 980 miles, driven with her grown children for three … Continue reading →

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It’s officially Garza and Jaworski in the AG runoff

Posted on March 11, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Glad that’s settled. Civil rights lawyer Lee Merritt suspended his campaign for the Democratic nomination for Texas attorney general on Thursday, clearing the way for top vote-getter Rochelle Garza to face Joe Jaworski in a May runoff election. More than … Continue reading →

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Longoria to resign as Election Administrator

Posted on March 9, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Ultimately for the best. Harris County Elections Administrator Isabel Longoria submitted her resignation Tuesday, about an hour and half after Judge Lina Hidalgo announced she intended to replace her following last week’s bungled primary contests. Longoria said her resignation would … Continue reading →

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