He’s also been embroiled in his own personal legal scandals for much of his tenure.
To some Texans, Paxton may seem like an unusual pick for AG, but just how unique is he?
Paxton is certainly a staunch conservative and defender of the state's business interests, said Brent Boyea, professor and interim chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of Texas at Arlington.
“A lot of what he's done in terms of lawsuits has been multi-state,” he said. “That's the norm, at least from what I've seen, and so he's been very, very active as an attorney general in suing the administration.”
For a man who's supposed to represent law and order in the Lone Star State, Paxton has faced what seems to be a significant number of personal legal issues. He was indicted in 2015 on felony securities fraud charges and was implicated in a more recent whistleblower case.
Last month, Paxton agreed to fork over some $3.3 million in a settlement involving several of his former high-ranking deputies who alleged they’d been unjustly fired. The aides had accused Paxton of abuse of office and bribery — claims, it’s worth noting, that Paxton has denied. It's unclear at this time whether Texas taxpayers will be on the hook for the settlement.
Also in February: Washington, D.C.-based officials with the Justice Department took control of the corruption probe into Paxton because of the recusal of the U.S. attorney’s office in San Antonio, according to The Texas Tribune.
The way Boyea sees it, a legal headache this big isn’t exactly standard for a state’s AG.
“As far as that being normal — no, that's not normal,” he said. “That is something I think is, just from my own perspective, not what you’re going to find across the country a whole lot. That's a lot of legal cases involving the primary legal officer for the state.”
Paxton’s personal legal qualms likely hurt his reputation among some Texas residents, but clearly not enough to keep him from securing reelection last November, Boyea said. Democrats believed they stood a shot in candidate Rochelle Garza, but Paxton still won by nearly 12 points.
Boyea said it’s “really common” for state attorneys general to file lawsuits against the presidential administration, particularly if they’re on the other side of the partisan divide. As of Feb. 25, he said, there were 63 multi-state lawsuits under way against Biden.
“We live in a polarized time,” he said. “There are red states and there are blue states. There are states that have very strong concerns about immigration — so California, probably, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas — and those states are going to have differences of opinion with the administration.”
Paxton isn’t the only Texas Republican AG to have gunned for the federal government, said Sanford Levinson, a legal scholar and professor at the University of Texas Law School. During his time in that role, now-Gov. Greg Abbott once described his job this way: "I go to the office. I sue the federal government. Then I go home.""It certainly on its face reeks of conflict of interest and corruption." – Sanford Levinson, UT Law professor
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Regardless, Levinson thinks that Paxton is a “publicity seeker.”
“I don't know how often he actually expects to win cases [as much as he is] building up his reputation as somebody who fights the administration and gets political capital from that,” he said. “It's also the case that thanks to [former President] Donald Trump, there are some very, very conservative judges in the Texas federal courts, the district courts, who are quite receptive to some of these lawsuits.”
Even lawsuits that are viewed as “crazy” have a shot at winning if they’re steered before the right judge, Levinson noted. Paxton likely wouldn't file suit in Austin, for instance, but instead would aim for Amarillo.
Bloomberg Law reported in late January that Paxton will face an ethics suit from a State Bar committee as a result of trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the courts. Levinson assumes that such a case was a “cynical and successful attempt to ingratiate” himself with Trump.
“It is almost literally impossible for me to imagine that [Paxton] thought he could win any of these lawsuits, and of course, he didn't,” he said. “But he certainly won the affection of Trump.”
Appealing to Trump’s base apparently did Paxton a world of good. Levinson pointed to last year's Republican AG primary: Paxton was able to crush then-Land Commissioner George P. Bush — a member of the Bush family political dynasty — who, once upon a time, would have been considered a serious candidate.
To Levinson, the fact that Texas taxpayers have been asked to cough up millions for Paxton’s own alleged misconduct does seem to be unusual.
“Maybe this has occurred before, but it certainly on its face reeks of conflict of interest and corruption,” Levinson said. “But you know, a lot of people would say, that's just Paxton: The most corrupt attorney general in our history.”
