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Attorney General Ken Paxton will scrutinize various companies and nonprofits, including the El Paso Immigrant Shelter Network and a nonprofit focused on increasing civic engagement among Latinos, following a federal judge’s ruling Friday. The court ruled that the state law it had repeatedly relied on could not be used to do so. According to Bloomberg Law, this tool is unconstitutional.
Judge Mark Lane of the Western District of Texas verbally granted Paxton a permanent injunction restraining him from filing so-called “investigative requests” to investigate a myriad of practices. The ruling stems from a lawsuit filed earlier this year by Boeing 737 manufacturer Spirit AeroSystems, which received requests from Paxton for various documents.
Spirit challenged the constitutionality of Texas’ request for statutory review. That’s because the law requires recipients to “immediately authorize” the attorney general to access their records, with no opportunity for prior judicial review of the request and the right to be free from unreasonable search or investigation. Because it is infringing. Seizures authorized by the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments. Lane agreed.
“This request is a no-brainer for me,” Lane said during Friday’s hearing, according to Bloomberg Law.
Lane asked Spirit’s attorney to file a written order documenting the decision. Mr. Lane’s office did not respond to a request for comment Friday.
Paxton’s office did not immediately respond to inquiries Friday evening about whether he planned to appeal.
It’s unclear how Friday’s ruling will affect cases that Paxton’s office has pending in state court.
Kristin Etter, director of policy and legal services for the Immigration Law Council of Texas, said, “The Attorney General’s Office has the freedom to search and seize the property of any business in Texas, subject to executive regulations. There is no arbitrary power to require access.” An organization dedicated to protecting the rights of immigrants and refugees in Texas. “This is textbook Fourth Amendment jurisprudence that protects us all from unreasonable searches and seizures.”
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An investigation by The Texas Tribune and ProPublica found that the Attorney General’s Office’s Consumer Protection Division has increased oversight of nonprofit organizations whose mission is primarily to oppose Mr. Paxton’s politics. The investigation request is just one of several legal tools he is using to advance his investigation.
Randy Erben, an adjunct professor at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law who previously spoke with ProPublica and the Tribune, said the request for an investigation is based on a broad range of powers rooted in the 1876 state constitution giving the attorney general over private corporations. It’s called a tool. spring.
“This goes back to the origins of our constitution and the fundamental distrust with which private companies created the document after Reconstruction,” Erben said.
It is part of the state’s Business and Organization Code and applies to all business entities that file incorporation documents within the state. This includes for-profit companies and nonprofit organizations, such as Spirit AeroSystems.
In late 2022, Paxton’s office sent three separate requests for investigations to organizations that received funding from the Texas Bar Foundation. U.S. Rep. Troy Neals (R-Richmond) claimed the foundation donates to organizations that encourage and fund illegal immigration.
The following spring, amid a legislative battle over gender-affirming treatment for minors, Mr. Paxton sent two hospitals, Dell Children’s Medical Center in Austin and Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, to submit various reports regarding such treatment. I sent a request for documents.
The treatment was still technically legal when the agency sent its letters in April and May, respectively, but the state Legislature passed the ban the same week Paxton began investigating Texas Children’s Hospital. did. In anticipation of the law taking effect, hospitals told employees they would discontinue certain gender-affirming treatments.
Perhaps the best-known case of this kind is that Paxton’s firm is working with the El Paso-based nonprofit Annunciation, which has provided services to immigrants and refugees seeking shelter for decades.・He handed over a request letter requesting an investigation into the House. Paxton accused the migrant shelter network of violating state laws that prohibit human smuggling and operating safe houses.
Typically, this type of letter is mailed and the organization is given a few days or weeks to respond. In this case, the attorney general initially wanted immediate access to Announcement Hall’s documents, including all records dating back more than two years and identifying immigrants who received services at Announcement Hall. The Attorney General subsequently agreed to give the organization additional days to respond.
After a legal dispute, a state judge in July denied Paxton’s efforts to shut down Annunciation House.
But Paxton has appealed directly to the all-Republican state Supreme Court, which is scheduled to hear arguments in the case early next year.
The agency’s request for Spirit’s records was part of an investigation into an incident in January when the door plug of a Boeing 737 Max 9 plane came loose, forcing it to make an emergency landing. Spirit builds the fuselage and installs door plugs that look like they came off an airplane.
The attorney general’s investigation letter also states that “Spirit relies on to substantiate its claims that a diverse workplace improves the quality of its products,” improves business performance, and encourages companies to make better decisions. They also requested a record of their presence. Paxton’s office said in a news release earlier this year that it is investigating whether such actions violate the company’s manufacturing processes.
Most recently, Paxton’s office has partnered with Team Brownsville, a Rio Grande Valley-based nonprofit that provides humanitarian assistance to immigrants, and Jolt, an organization focused on Latino civic engagement. sent an investigation request to.
Daniel Hatoum, senior supervising attorney on TCRP’s Beyond Borders team, praised Judge Lane’s ruling and reiterated his concerns about the law’s broad language, which Paxton’s office says will be used to pursue nonprofit organizations. He claimed that he was using it as a weapon.
“I strongly agree that this was an easy decision and that this law is very likely unconstitutional,” Hatoum said.