Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) is appealing a Massachusetts federal court ruling that blocked his office from pursuing a Texas consumer protection lawsuit against political fundraising platform ActBlue.
Why is Paxton appealing?
AG Ken Paxton has filed an opening brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, asking the court to overturn a Massachusetts federal judge's order that halted his Texas lawsuit against ActBlue.
The legal fight stems from Paxton's April lawsuit accusing ActBlue of violating the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act by misrepresenting its safeguards for political donations. The Texas attorney general's office said ActBlue had represented that it no longer accepted gift card donations, but investigators later successfully processed certain gift card donations through the platform.
ActBlue responded to the Texas lawsuit by filing a federal case in Massachusetts seeking to stop Paxton from continuing the state enforcement action.
On June 11, U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns granted ActBlue's request for a preliminary injunction, blocking Paxton and his office from continuing to litigate the Texas case or bringing another state enforcement action based on the same conduct.
The court also rejected Paxton's initial effort to dismiss the Massachusetts case.
Paxton is now arguing that the Massachusetts court improperly interfered with an ongoing Texas proceeding and lacked jurisdiction over his office. His appeal also contends that the court mischaracterized the Texas lawsuit as an attempt to regulate political speech rather than an enforcement action under Texas consumer protection law.
AG Ken Paxton: "We will fight for our right to hold companies accountable when they misrepresent the services that they provide to Texans."
What happens next?
Paxton is asking the First Circuit to reverse the preliminary injunction and order the Massachusetts district court to dismiss Act Blue's federal lawsuit.
The appeal will determine whether Paxton's Texas enforcement action can proceed while the broader dispute over ActBlue's donation practices and the competing constitutional claims continue in federal court.
