Attorney General Ken Paxton has marked a combative milestone with the filing of Texas's 100th lawsuit against the Biden-Harris Administration. This most recent legal challenge is aimed squarely at blocking a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruling that Texas argues oversteps state rights and unduly passes costs onto taxpayers. The lawsuit, numbering a century for Paxton's office, stems from a September 2024 FCC decision regulating phone calls for federal prisoners, which, according to a press release from Ken Paxton Attorney General, overrules state laws and mandates states to bear the increased financial load for these communications.
"For the past four years, the Biden-Harris Administration routinely violated the Constitution to implement an agenda that harmed our Nation," Paxton stated, alleging federal overreach into areas like immigration and energy policy. The Texas AG has built his tenure upon the bedrock of legal opposition to federal dictates, managing to successfully litigate the state's stance more than 75% of the time. Evidence of Paxton's intent to aggressively continue this trend is shown through his office's litigious actions, including an early win in January 2021 where Texas challenged and halted the administration's deportation freeze just two days after inauguration, according to Ken Paxton Attorney General.
The consistency of these confrontations with federal policy has brought about significant rulings in favor of the Lone Star State. Among the victories, Attorney General Paxton cites wins over redirection of funds intended for border wall construction and halting policies that Texas perceived as stealth amnesty initiatives. Notably, Paxton was at the forefront of voiding the so-called "parole in place" policy, which he argued would have unlawfully granted amnesty to over a million undocumented immigrants.
Decisively, Paxton's latest action against the FCC looks to continue his administration's commitment to curb what he sees as governmental overreach. "From unlawfully orchestrating the border invasion to attacking our oil and gas industries and illegally abusing taxpayer money to censor our own citizens, the federal government has been ruthlessly weaponized against the American people. But Texas stood in their way. We proudly led the Nation’s fight to uphold the rule of law and restore Constitutional rights when they were under attack," said Paxton, putting forth a narrative of Texas as a bulwark against federal encroachment, as reported by Ken Paxton Attorney General.