An emboldened Ken Paxton returns to a battered attorney general’s office

Evolution of an office

The first time Ken Paxton offered Jeff Mateer a job, Mateer said no.

Mateer was general counsel at First Liberty Institute, a conservative Christian religious liberty law firm in Plano, where he was working to get prayer back into public schools, permit religious businesses to refuse service to LGBTQ+ people and restrict public funding of contraception.

“Quite frankly, I had my dream job,” Mateer testified last week. “But he asked me to pray about it. And my wife and I prayed about it, and we felt like we were supposed to come down here.”

It wasn’t just Mateer. In the early years of Paxton’s tenure, conservative lawyers left plum positions working for right-wing law firms and politicians to come to work at the Texas Attorney General’s office.

The office was known as “a beacon for the conservative legal movement,” said Ryan Bangert, who joined the office in 2019 after working for Josh Hawley in Missouri.

“I … believed Texas was leading the way in representing the interests of the conservative legal movement here in the U.S.,” he said on the stand.

Three decades ago, state attorney general offices were, by and large, bureaucratic workhorses that chased down child support and defended state agencies when they got sued. Occasionally, they’d team up with other states on consumer protection issues or environmental protection.

But in the late 1990s, state attorneys general began to step into their power, taking a more proactive role in federal litigation. In Texas, this coincided with the Republican takeover of all statewide elected offices and, eventually, total domination in the Legislature.

On the left, this was led by states like California, Massachusetts, Washington and New York. But on the right, no state did more than Texas.

Beginning under now-Sen. John Cornyn, and accelerating significantly under his successor, now-Gov. Greg Abbott, the Texas Office of the Attorney General took an ambitious, aggressive stance in court, barraging the federal government with increasingly partisan lawsuits.

Texas became even more central to the growing conservative legal movement after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that states have “special solicitude” to file lawsuits. Compared to other plaintiffs, Texas would have an easier time convincing judges to take their cases. The state began pairing up more frequently with conservative Christian legal organizations like First Liberty.

By the time Paxton took over in 2015, Texas had made a name for itself as the most influential state attorney general’s office for the conservative movement. It had also become a training ground for conservative attorneys looking to get courtroom experience.

The office helped launch the careers of now-Sen. Ted Cruz, conservative firebrand Jonathan Mitchell and almost a dozen lawyers who went on to be appointed to the federal bench under President Donald Trump.

“Getting a job in the AG’s office, or the solicitor general’s office, in Texas, certainly opens up a lot of doors not just for positions in politics, but also for judgeships down the road,” said Daniel Bennett, a political scientist who studies the Christian legal movement at John Brown University in Arkansas. “They might see that as a way to get more of their own, long term, on the bench.”

Mateer, Bangert and others flocked to Texas for a chance to help craft this nationally influential legal strategy. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement for Paxton.

“When he first started, we didn’t really know what he was going to do,” said Josh Blackman, a South Texas College of Law professor who is active in the Federalist Society and friends with many of the early Paxton hires. “He was a state senator, won a contested primary, there was the security fraud stuff. But by bringing in people like Mateer and others, it was like, ‘Ok, he’s surrounding himself with the right people.’”

Office turnover

In 2020, eight senior officials with the Texas Office of the Attorney General went to the FBI to report allegations of corruption by Paxton. Among those who reported were Mateer, Bangert, Blake Brickman, a former chief of staff to conservative Kentucky governor Matt Bevin, and David Maxwell, a longtime Texas Ranger with a sterling law enforcement reputation.

“We were protecting the interests of the state and ultimately, I believe, protecting the interests of the attorney general and, in my view, signing our professional death warrant,” Bangert testified. “We understood the gravity of that act.”

Everyone who reported to the FBI either resigned or was fired, setting off a series of events culminating with the impeachment trial and Paxton’s acquittal by the senators.

Inside the agency, this set off another kind of chaos. In one fell swoop, the agency had lost Paxton’s first assistant, his deputy first assistant and the deputy attorneys general overseeing the divisions of policy, administration, civil litigation, criminal investigations and legal counsel.

Mateer, who resigned and returned to leading First Liberty, was replaced by Brent Webster, a former assistant district attorney in Williamson County. Webster has been accused by the whistleblowers of leading the retaliation campaign against them. Another top Paxton aide, Drew Wicker, testified last week that Webster discouraged him from speaking to the FBI about the allegations against Paxton. Wicker has since left the agency, too.

Webster also supported Paxton’s long-shot federal lawsuit seeking to overturn the 2020 election results in four battleground states that went for Biden, which other conservative attorneys, inside the agency and out, cautioned him against filing.

The State Bar of Texas filed professional misconduct lawsuits against Paxton and Webster, accusing them of being “dishonest” for misrepresenting allegations of voting improprieties in their Supreme Court petition.

The Supreme Court swiftly rejected Texas’ petition. Notably, Kyle Hawkins, then the solicitor general, did not put his name on the filing. A few weeks later, Hawkins resigned and was replaced by Judd Stone, who would later take a leave of absence to defend Paxton in his impeachment hearing.

This degree of high-level turnover created ripple effects at all levels of the agency. Top agency spots were filled by campaign donors, some of whom left quickly in disgrace, and the office quietly dropped several human trafficking cases after losing track of a key victim, the Associated Press reported. Paxton also made a habit of refusing to represent state agencies when they faced lawsuits, a key aspect of his office’s work.

When it came to the all-important federal litigation against the Biden administration, the agency continued to push a relentless pace. But under Webster, the agency focused on filing “

SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

1. SDGs Addressed or Connected to the Issues Highlighted in the Article:

   • SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions
   • SDG 5: Gender Equality
   • SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
   • SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions

   The article discusses the conservative takeover of the judicial system in Texas and the impact it has had on the state’s attorney general’s office. This relates to SDG 16, which aims to promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all, and build effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions at all levels. The article also mentions the resignation and firing of senior officials who reported allegations of corruption by Ken Paxton, which highlights the importance of strong institutions and accountability (SDG 16). Additionally, the article mentions the role of conservative Christian legal organizations in shaping Texas’ legal strategy, which relates to SDG 5 (Gender Equality) and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities) as it raises questions about the potential impact on LGBTQ+ rights and reproductive rights.

2. Specific Targets under the SDGs Based on the Article’s Content:

   • Target 16.3: Promote the rule of law at the national and international levels and ensure equal access to justice for all.
   • Target 5.1: End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere.
   • Target 10.2: By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic, and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion, or economic or other status.

   The article highlights the need to promote the rule of law and ensure equal access to justice (Target 16.3) in the context of the conservative takeover of the judicial system in Texas. It also raises concerns about potential discrimination against women and girls (Target 5.1) and the impact on social, economic, and political inclusion (Target 10.2) due to the conservative legal movement’s influence on the state’s attorney general’s office.

3. Indicators Mentioned or Implied in the Article:

   • Corruption allegations reported to the FBI by senior officials
   • Resignation and firing of senior officials
   • Loss of high-profile cases at the U.S. Supreme Court
   • Impact on LGBTQ+ rights and reproductive rights

   The article mentions corruption allegations reported to the FBI by senior officials, which can be seen as an indicator of potential misconduct and lack of accountability within the attorney general’s office. The resignation and firing of senior officials also indicate internal turmoil and potential issues with leadership. The loss of high-profile cases at the U.S. Supreme Court suggests a lack of success in achieving legal objectives. Finally, the article implies that the conservative legal movement’s influence may have implications for LGBTQ+ rights and reproductive rights, which can be seen as indicators of potential discrimination and inequality.

Table: SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

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Source: texastribune.org

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