The file
Ken Paxton
Photo: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
person

Ken Paxton

Attorney General of Texas since 2015

Entries
18
On the record
14
Stories
1
Latest entry
Jun 27, 2025

The record

Compiled by the MrScandal desk from the documents below ยท Desk editor Gustavs ฤ’rkลกฤทis-Kreicbergs ยท Nov 8, 2026

Ken Paxton has been Attorney General of Texas since he was sworn in on January 5, 2015, succeeding Greg Abbott. Outside the criminal case, the impeachment and the whistleblower suit, most of his public record sits in court dockets where he appears as the state's chief lawyer, either suing the federal government and other states or defending Texas statutes against challengers.

That record is mixed. The U.S. Supreme Court turned away his 2020 election suit against Pennsylvania and other states and the Texas-led challenge to the Affordable Care Act, both on standing, split evenly in a 2016 case the federal government brought against Texas, and in 2025 upheld the Texas age-verification law he defended. His office also reached privacy settlements of $1.4 billion with Meta and $1.375 billion with Google.

A State Bar of Texas disciplinary case against him ended in February 2025, when the Texas Supreme Court dismissed his appeal as moot after the bar's disciplinary commission dropped its suit. Two months later he announced a Republican primary challenge to U.S. Senator John Cornyn for the 2026 election.

Roles and honours on the record

  • 2015-present Attorney General of Texas, sworn in January 5, 2015 source
  • 2022-2024 Respondent as Attorney General of Texas, NetChoice v. Paxton, U.S. Supreme Court No. 22-555 source
  • 2025 Respondent as Attorney General of Texas, Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, U.S. Supreme Court No. 23-1122 source
  • 2025-present Candidate, 2026 Republican primary for U.S. Senate in Texas source

Every entry, newest first

Last entry Jun 18, 2025
  1. Ruled

    Judge Andrea Beall accepts dismissal of all three felony indictments, per Texas Scorecard. Ken Paxton's record: diversion deal, $6.67M award, acquittal

  2. Ruled

    Ruling awards four former employees $6.67 million; Paxton is appealing, per CBS Texas. Ken Paxton's record: diversion deal, $6.67M award, acquittal

  3. Filed

    Paxton agrees to pretrial diversion and nearly $300,000 in restitution in the securities fraud case, per the AP. Ken Paxton's record: diversion deal, $6.67M award, acquittal

  4. Ruled

    Texas Senate acquits Paxton on all 16 articles of impeachment, per the AP. Ken Paxton's record: diversion deal, $6.67M award, acquittal

  5. Filed

    Texas House committee files 20 articles of impeachment; Paxton calls them hearsay and gossip, per the AP. Ken Paxton's record: diversion deal, $6.67M award, acquittal

  6. Filed

    Tentative $3.3 million whistleblower settlement filed with the Texas Supreme Court, with no admission of fault by either side, per the Texas Tribune. Ken Paxton's record: diversion deal, $6.67M award, acquittal

  7. Filed

    Indictments unsealed: two first-degree securities fraud counts, one third-degree failure to register; Paxton to plead not guilty. Ken Paxton's record: diversion deal, $6.67M award, acquittal

  8. Ruled

    Texas State Securities Board reprimands Paxton for unregistered solicitation and fines him $1,000, per the New York Times. Ken Paxton's record: diversion deal, $6.67M award, acquittal

Stories in this file

Ken Paxton: DISMISSEDCelebrity ยท 7d ago

๐Ÿค  Ken Paxton's record: diversion deal, $6.67M award, acquittal

Paxton denies wrongdoing, his lawyer says the diversion deal carried no admission, and he was appealing the $6.67M ruling as of June 2025. ๐Ÿ—ฃ๏ธ

The record, entry by entry

  1. 2015-01-05 Official Paxton was sworn in as Attorney General of Texas, with the oath administered by Greg Abbott, the attorney general he succeeded. Texas Tribune report
  2. 2016-06-23 Ruled The U.S. Supreme Court disposed of United States v. Texas, an appeal the federal government brought against Texas and other states, in one sentence: the judgment was affirmed by an equally divided Court. U.S. Supreme Court, per curiam, No. 15-674 (LII copy)
  3. 2020-12-11 Ruled The U.S. Supreme Court denied Texas leave to file Texas v. Pennsylvania for lack of standing, saying Texas had not shown a judicially cognizable interest in how another state conducts its elections. U.S. Supreme Court, order list, No. 155 Orig.
  4. 2021-06-17 Ruled In California v. Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court held that Texas and the other plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the Affordable Care Act's minimum essential coverage provision, ending the challenge without reaching its merits. U.S. Supreme Court, opinion, No. 19-840
  5. 2024-07-01 Ruled In NetChoice v. Paxton, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated the Fifth Circuit's judgment and remanded, in an opinion by Justice Kagan decided together with No. 22-277. Judgment issued on August 2, 2024. U.S. Supreme Court, docket No. 22-555
  6. 2024-07-30 Reported Meta agreed to pay Texas $1.4 billion over five years to settle the state's 2022 suit under its 2009 biometric-data law, without admitting wrongdoing, the Texas Tribune reported. Texas Tribune report
  7. 2025-02-14 Ruled The Texas Supreme Court dismissed Paxton v. Commission for Lawyer Discipline as moot after the commission nonsuited its case, and vacated the court of appeals' judgment and opinion. Supreme Court of Texas, per curiam, No. 24-0452 (FindLaw copy)
  8. 2025-04-08 Reported Paxton announced he would challenge U.S. Senator John Cornyn in the Republican primary for the 2026 Senate election in Texas, NBC News reported. NBC News report
  9. 2025-05-09 Reported Texas announced a $1.375 billion agreement in principle with Google over its 2022 suits on location tracking, Incognito browsing and biometric data. Google said the claims concerned policies it had long since changed. National Law Review report
  10. 2025-06-27 Ruled In Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Texas age-verification law H.B. 1181, holding that it triggers and survives intermediate scrutiny because it only incidentally burdens adults' protected speech. U.S. Supreme Court, opinion, No. 23-1122

Documents

Sources behind this file

  1. CBS Texas report on the motion to dismiss and the $6.67 million ruling ยท Report, Jun 19, 2025
  2. Texas Scorecard report on the dismissal ยท Report, Jun 18, 2025
  3. Associated Press report on the pretrial diversion agreement ยท Report, Mar 26, 2024
  4. Associated Press report on the Senate acquittal ยท Report, Sep 17, 2023
  5. Houston Chronicle report on the Senate vote count ยท Report, Sep 16, 2023
  6. Associated Press rundown of the 20 articles of impeachment ยท Report, May 26, 2023
  7. Texas Tribune report on the whistleblower settlement ยท Report, Feb 10, 2023
  8. Associated Press report on the surrender and booking ยท Report, Aug 3, 2015
  9. Houston Chronicle report on the unsealed indictments ยท Report, Aug 3, 2015
  10. New York Times report on the indictment ยท Report, Aug 1, 2015

Connected files

  • Meta Platforms ยท Owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp ยท named in the record