Ken Paxton
Ken Paxton is the Attorney General of Texas, in office since 2015. Unlike the governors in this archive, he appears almost entirely acting in his own right — issuing opinions, opening investigations, and bringing or intervening in litigation — rather than as a signing authority. His entries span a wider set of abuse categories than most state officials here, including investigations, procurement and religious favouritism in policy.
2026 Events (8)
Texas Tribune reveals Trump administration asked Texas criminal-defense commission to take over immigrant children's deportation cases
In mid-June 2026, top officials working with the Trump administration — including James McHenry, the Justice Department's chief administrative hearing officer — asked the Texas Indigent Defense Commission, a state body the Legislature created solely for criminal defense, to take over legal representation of unaccompanied immigrant children in their deportation proceedings. The outreach, which the commission's director said fell outside its legal mandate, came as the administration moved to end the federally mandated legal-services contract held by the Acacia Center for Justice (set to expire July 31 with no required transition notice), stopped paying subcontractors, and sent federal agents to the offices of children's legal-aid nonprofits. Advocates and a Justice Department spokesperson confirmed the request; critics said it was designed to concentrate unaccompanied children in a border state with higher asylum-denial rates to speed their removal.
Texas AG Paxton's office intervened for Texas Tech in the Sorsby case a day after donor Cody Campbell gave $274,300
On June 11, 2026, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's office sent a letter warning the Big 12 Conference that sanctioning Texas Tech over quarterback Brendan Sorsby's eligibility would be unlawful and expose the conference to more than $200 million in liability. The intervention came one day after Texas Tech Board of Regents Chair Cody Campbell — one of Sorsby's most public defenders — donated $274,300 to a joint fundraising committee supporting Paxton's U.S. Senate bid. The donation was not publicly known until the Texas Tribune reported newly filed federal campaign-finance records on July 15, 2026.
Texas AG Ken Paxton voted in six elections, including 2026 Senate runoff, from address he no longer occupied
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Republican U.S. Senate nominee, voted in six elections over the past two years — including the March 2026 primary and the May 26, 2026 runoff that secured his nomination — from a Collin County home records indicate he had vacated more than a year earlier. A trust bought Paxton a $2.4 million home in Denton County in February 2026, but he continued voting from the Collin County address rather than updating his registration. Three election-law experts told ProPublica and The Texas Tribune the conduct may violate the same Texas election-fraud statute Paxton's own office has publicly warned voters against.
DOJ and Texas AG Paxton secured $10M settlement forcing Texas Children's Hospital to end transgender youth care, create detransition clinic
On May 15, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced a joint settlement with Texas Children's Hospital in Houston resolving a healthcare-fraud investigation into the hospital's billing for pediatric gender-affirming care. The hospital agreed to stop performing puberty-blocker and cross-sex-hormone procedures on minors, pay over $10 million in damages and civil penalties, terminate five physicians, and establish what DOJ and Paxton's office both called the nation's first dedicated "detransition clinic" funding care for patients who discontinue gender transition.
Texas AG Paxton opened investigations into roughly two dozen school districts to enforce Ten Commandments and prayer laws
On May 7, 2026, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced investigations into roughly two dozen public school districts to enforce state laws requiring Ten Commandments displays in classrooms and school-board votes on designated prayer time. The districts were ordered to produce records showing compliance with Senate Bills 10 and 11, both enacted in 2025. Paxton, then a U.S. Senate candidate, framed the effort as protecting students' right to pray and to learn from the Ten Commandments daily.
DOJ implements $68M Colony Ridge settlement without court approval after judge rejects deal
At an April 10, 2026 hearing in Houston, U.S. District Judge Alfred H. Bennett refused to approve the Justice Department's proposed $68 million settlement with land developer Colony Ridge — sued in 2023 for deceiving tens of thousands of Hispanic buyers into predatory high-interest loans — because it contained no compensation for victims while earmarking more than $20 million for policing and immigration enforcement. When Bennett offered revisions to win his approval, DOJ refused, dismissed the case with prejudice, and implemented the settlement out of court, leaving no judicial supervision of compliance and extinguishing the victims' claims.
Texas Supreme Court ordered PFLAG to turn over internal transgender-youth records in Paxton probe on a mere-belief standard
On March 13, 2026, the Texas Supreme Court reversed a Travis County judge's limits and ordered PFLAG, an LGBTQ family-advocacy organization, to turn over internal communications and provider-referral records to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's office as part of his investigation into whether medical providers are circumventing the state's ban on gender-affirming care for minors through deceptive billing. Writing for the court, Chief Justice Jimmy Blacklock held that the AG's civil-investigative-demand authority is triggered by "mere belief," not proof, and that courts should not second-guess the AG's investigatory decisions. The AG's office agreed to redactions protecting the identities of the families and children named in the records.
Texas AG Paxton issued opinion enabling exclusion of Islamic schools from voucher program over unsubstantiated terrorism claims
On January 24, 2026, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a legal opinion authorizing the state comptroller to exclude private schools from the state's new voucher program over alleged ties to terrorism or foreign governments. The opinion followed a request from Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock after researcher Sam Westrop — previously found liable in the U.K. for over $173,000 in libel damages for a false terrorism claim — alleged that nearly 50 Texas Islamic and Chinese-linked private schools had extremist or foreign-government ties. The comptroller's office used taxpayer funds to investigate the schools and delayed their admittance to the voucher program before four Islamic schools sued and were subsequently admitted.
2025 Events (1)
Ken Paxton's office diverted state-funded inauguration hotel rooms to major donors, leaving two stays billed to taxpayers
In January 2025, the Texas Office of the Attorney General booked a nonrefundable block of ten hotel rooms costing over $20,000 in state funds for staff attending Trump's inauguration and related Supreme Court arguments in Washington, D.C. When a winter storm kept several employees from traveling, unused rooms were informally reassigned to Paxton donors and allies — including major donors Terry and Jennifer Lacore, Albanian businessman Bashkim Ulaj, and Albanian Republican Party chair Fatmir Mediu — without following proper transfer procedures. At least two guests had their stays billed to the state without payment, and the agency ultimately paid $8,339 for rooms that served private individuals with documented financial or political ties to Paxton.
2024 Events (1)
Texas AG Paxton sued El Paso physician Dr. Hector Granados over alleged violations of state's transgender-care ban
On October 29, 2024, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's office filed a lawsuit against El Paso pediatric endocrinologist Dr. Hector Granados in Kaufman County district court, accusing him of prescribing puberty blockers and hormone therapy to more than 20 minors in violation of Senate Bill 14, the state's ban on gender-affirming care for minors, and of falsifying medical records to conceal the treatments as care for precocious puberty. The suit sought more than $1 million in penalties and revocation of Granados's medical license, and followed a similar suit Paxton's office filed against Dr. May Lau two weeks earlier.