Texas AG Ken Paxton Sued over Rule Targeting ‘Rogue’ District Attorneys

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is being pressured via lawsuits from five district attorneys in his state who are pushing back against one of Paxton’s rules.

Paxton is being sued over an issue that would give his office access to those district attorneys’ records, the Texas Tribune reported Friday:

The two lawsuits, filed in Travis County District Court, seek to overturn a new rule created by Paxton’s office giving the attorney general office’s employees discretion to request almost all documents from cases county officials work on, regardless of whether they are being pursued. The district attorneys suing Paxton said the rule is an unconstitutional overreach that would needlessly burden offices who would have to present “terabytes” of data to the attorney general.

The rule, which took effect in April, only applies to counties with 400,000 residents or more — a threshold only 13 counties in the state meets. Paxton’s office has marked the provision as a way to “rein in rogue district attorneys” refusing to uphold the law. District attorneys from Travis and El Paso counties filed one suit, while district attorneys from Harris, Dallas and Bexar counties filed another. Both seek to block Paxton from being able to enforce the rule, alleging it violates the state constitution and federal law.

Paxton on Friday addressed the issue, writing in a post on X that “It is no surprise that rogue DAs who would rather turn violent criminals loose on the streets than do their jobs are afraid of transparency and accountability.”

“My DA reporting rule is a simple, straightforward, common-sense measure that will shed light on local officials who are abdicating their responsibility to public safety. This lawsuit is meritless and merely a sad, desperate attempt to conceal information from the public they were sworn to protect,” he concluded:

In 2023, Breitbart News reported that left-wing billionaire George Soros spent over $40 million into getting district attorneys with agendas for decriminalization elected across America.

Those DA’s included some in Texas:

Others elected to office with Soros’s backing include Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg, Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot, Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales, Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

However, the outlet noted in December that 21 prosecutors backed by Soros were reportedly ousted in favor of “tough-on-crime” prosecutors since 2022.

“As of June 2022, the U.S. had some 75 Soros-backed prosecutors, as Breitbart News noted at the time. But their policies were blamed for kicking off a national crime wave, and a backlash among voters — even Democrats — began,” the article read.

The news about the Texas Attorney General being sued comes as a recent poll found Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) is trailing behind Paxton in the primary to retain his seat, according to Breitbart News.