AG Paxton: California’s Travel Ban Undermines National Unity; Violates U.S. Constitution by Punishing Those Who Respect Religious Liberty

AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton today filed an original action against the State of California in the United States Supreme Court, seeking to strike down California’s travel ban for states that uphold First Amendment protections for religious liberty. California added Texas to the ban on state-funded travel after the Texas Legislature implemented a law allowing faith-based foster care and adoption agencies to decline placements that violated their religious beliefs. Texas respects and honors the religious beliefs of its citizens. California lawmakers do not. As a co-author of California’s travel ban admitted, they see religious beliefs as nothing more than “code to discriminate against different people.”    

Texas partners with a diverse array of agencies to expand the number of safe and loving homes available to children. California’s opposition to diverse and inclusive options for foster children, along with its decision to utilize commerce as a tool of economic warfare, divide the nation and demonstrate a disregard for the safety and well-being of Texas children.   

“California is attempting to punish Texans for respecting the right of conscience for foster care and adoption providers. And as the U.S. Supreme Court said recently in upholding the religious liberty of artist Jack Phillips, disparaging religious beliefs like the California Legislature did here, ‘as merely rhetorical – something insubstantial and even insincere,’ is inappropriate for any entity charged with enacting fair and neutral laws,” said Attorney General Paxton. “The law California opposes does not prevent anyone from contributing to child-welfare; in fact, it allows our state to partner with as many different agencies as possible to expand the number of safe and loving homes available to foster children. Boycotting states based on nothing more than political disagreement breaks down the ability of states to serve as laboratories of democracy while still working together as one nation—the very thing our Constitution intended to prevent.”  

AG Paxton Defends Electoral College at Fifth Circuit

AUSTIN – On behalf of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Governor Greg Abbott, Deputy Solicitor General Matthew Frederick today defended the time-honored Electoral College system at the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that Texas’s method of appointing presidential electors is consistent with the U.S. Constitution’s command that “each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in Congress.” Texas appoints the State’s presidential electors on a winner-take-all basis to the presidential candidate who receives the most votes in a statewide election—a method that dates back to the first presidential election and that is used in all but two states today.  

“Only an amendment to the Constitution can change or eliminate the stable and successful presidential election system designed by our Founders. The Electoral College has been in constant use since 1789, and the Constitution clearly allows states to appoint electors as directed by the Legislature,” said Attorney General Paxton. “Texas and the 47 other states that selected the winner-take-all method are operating in full compliance with the Constitution. This challenge to the Electoral College system is not just baseless, it threatens to destroy the framework of our election process.” 

Nearly 50 years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed a decision rejecting the argument that the winner-take-all system is unconstitutional. One year ago, the U.S. District Court in San Antonio dismissed a lawsuit challenging the Electoral College system, finding that Texas’s method of appointing electors does not deny any person an equally weighted vote or deny any voter’s First Amendment rights of association or expression. The election process in Texas is free, fair, and lawful.

AG Paxton Urges Court to Protect Baby Girl’s Right to Life

AUSTIN – On behalf of Attorney General Ken Paxton and Governor Greg Abbott, Texas Solicitor General Kyle Hawkins today argued before the Second Court of Appeals, fighting to protect baby T.L.’s life and halt a Texas law that allows physicians, along with an ethics or medical committee, to cease life-sustaining treatment against a patient or caregiver’s wishes.

“I urge the court to protect the life of this baby girl while her family members are given the opportunity to tell their side of the story and fight for their daughter. Patients must be heard and justly represented when it comes to determining their medical treatment, especially when their life is at risk,” said Attorney General Paxton. “Life is the first constitutionally protected interest, and this case is a matter of life and death for a defenseless child. This baby girl, like all Texans, must be afforded the rights she deserves.”

In November 2019, Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas denied the baby’s mother’s request to continue life-sustaining treatment without first providing due process of law, directly violating her wishes and her daughter’s right to life. The family seeks an order from the court that will prevent the hospital from ignoring their wishes and ending their daughter’s life.

AG Paxton Files Brief Supporting Fifth Circuit’s Obamacare Decision

AUSTIN
– Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a brief with the United States
Supreme Court today, arguing that the Fifth Circuit’s decision to
declare Obamacare’s individual mandate unconstitutional and remand the
case to the district court does not require review by the Supreme Court
at this time. The brief also argues the U.S. House of Representatives,
which petitioned the Supreme Court to review the decision, lacks
standing to request such a review.

“The
Fifth Circuit’s opinion declaring the individual mandate
unconstitutional is a straightforward application of existing U.S.
Supreme Court precedent. The Fifth Circuit has ordered this case to
return to district court to determine which, if any, provisions of
Obamacare are still valid notwithstanding the unconstitutional mandate.
That is where this case belongs at this time,” said Attorney General
Paxton. “I applaud the Fifth Circuit for upholding the core principle
that the federal government cannot order private citizens to purchase
subpar insurance that they don’t want. I look forward to demonstrating
exactly how this law has failed in district court.”

When
the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Obamacare in 2012, a majority of the
justices agreed that Obamacare’s individual mandate was constitutional
only because its accompanying tax penalty could justify forcing
individuals to purchase health insurance under Congress’ taxing power.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 removed the penalty, meaning
Obamacare’s intrusive individual mandate cannot be preserved as a tax,
and rendering it unlawful.

To view a copy of today’s brief, click here. 

AG Paxton Joins 14-State Coalition in Defense of Religious Liberty

AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton and 13 other states filed a friend-of-the-court brief in defense of religious liberty after a Colorado district court determined that privately owned businesses can be fined for declining to provide services that violate their religious beliefs. The U.S. Constitution prohibits governments from forcing individuals to violate their religious beliefs.  

Colorado currently has an unconstitutional law barring any place of public accommodation from refusing services because of sexual orientation or publishing notice of intent to refuse services because of sexual orientation, which directly violates the First Amendment. In this case, Lorie Smith, the owner and sole employee of 303 Creative LLC, which provides custom graphic and website design services, challenged the law prohibiting her from refusing to create custom websites that violate her religious beliefs.   

“The State of Colorado has repeatedly persecuted people of faith who wish only to conduct their business in line with their sincerely-held beliefs. Ms. Smith has not committed any illegal act, and the district court’s decision should be immediately reversed,” said Attorney General Paxton. “The Constitution requires the government to respect the religious beliefs of its citizens, but the rigid secular orthodoxy of the Colorado elites has been allowed to trample on this specifically protected freedom and destroy people’s livelihood. Religious persecution of innocent people must end.” 

This case is strikingly similar to that of Jack Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, who faced charges for refusing to create a custom cake that violated his religious beliefs. The U.S. Supreme Court resoundingly ruled in Mr. Phillips’ favor and pointed out that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission had disparaged Phillips’ religious beliefs.  

To view a copy of the amicus brief, click here.  

AG Paxton Defends Diverse Placement and Care for Texas Foster Children

AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a motion for summary judgment in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, urging the court to declare that an Obama-era rule violates the Constitution, the Administrative Procedure Act and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.  

In the filing, Attorney General Paxton opposes a regulation from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Known as Section 75.300, the rule deters certain faith-based organizations, including the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, from participating in Texas’ foster care system. And it threatens the federal funding of states that partner with those organizations. Both limiting Texas’ foster care network and reducing federal funding harm Texas children.  

“Texas partners with a vast number of child-placing agencies, and we cannot serve the best interest of our children when the government unlawfully excludes many of those organizations. To refuse those with the capability and expertise to aid our children, based solely on their religious beliefs, will not only diminish the number of child-placement agencies available, it is an egregious violation of religious freedom,” said Attorney General Paxton. “Cooperation between states and faith-based groups is vital to ensuring that children in our foster care system are provided with the best care available and the safe and loving home they deserve.” 

In 2017, Texas enacted House Bill 3859, which protects the religious liberty of child-placing agencies and prohibits the State from granting or denying funding to such organizations based on their religious beliefs. It prohibits government entities from discriminating or taking adverse action against a child-placing agency if that provider declines to provide, facilitate, or refer a person for child welfare services that conflict with the provider’s sincerely held religious beliefs. Texas law also explicitly requires that, if a faith-based child welfare organization declines to provide a particular service based on their religious beliefs, a secondary child welfare service provider is available.  

To view a copy of the filing, click here. 

AG Paxton Joins Brief to Protect the Right to Life for Babies with Down Syndrome

AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton joined 17 other states in a friend-of-the-court brief to protect babies with Down Syndrome from abortion based solely on their genetics. Despite numerous civil rights protections, including the Americans with Disabilities Act, an Ohio federal court created a categorical right to abortion, regardless of whether the reason for an abortion is clearly based on discrimination against a child with disabilities.  

“As fetal screening technology advances, the risk of eugenics-minded abortion, unfortunately, expands as well. To kill a child in the womb simply because they possess different physical or mental capabilities than their parents envisioned is a barbaric and horrifying act of discrimination against the helpless,” said Attorney General Paxton. “All life should be celebrated and all people, regardless of their genetics, should be afforded the right to life.” 

Ohio’s anti-eugenic law protects those with Down Syndrome from harm prior to their birth and opposes the demeaning stereotype that a life with disabilities is not worth living. Allowing the baseless abortion of those with Down Syndrome opens the door to increasingly dangerous discrimination in determining who is allowed to live and who must not be born at all.