Ordinarily, a state Justice Department will defend a law in court if it's challenged, but Texas attorney general and indicted fraudster, Ken Paxton, has filed a preemptive lawsuit to uphold the state's new racial profiling law.
Paxton is asking the court to validate the state's "papers please" racial profiling law that was signed by Governor Greg Abbott.
AUSTIN - On the same day Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 4 into law, Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against various political figures in the City of Austin, requesting the court to declare the law constitutional. [...]
According to the suit filed May 7, Paxton's reasoning for taking legal action is "to avoid a multiplicity of suits in various forms" questioning the constitutionality of the law from the defendants, which include Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez, the City of Austin, Austin City Council Member Greg Casar, Austin Mayor Steve Adler and a host of other people affiliated with Travis County.
I may be a legal layman, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't work that way. There's virtually no chance Paxton will be able to avoid a "multiplicity of suits in various forms" with a law as sweeping and vague as this as it will likely be challenged from many different angles. The law allows local law enforcement officers to question the immigration status of anyone they stop and threatens officers with jail time if they don't comply with requests from federal immigration authorities.
When you put it that way, it's really quite something, isn't it?
I'm old enough to remember when Texans, including the governor himself, were concerned that the military may be planning to invade Texas by tunneling under local Wal-Marts during Operation Jade Helm. But that was a different time. The president was black. We have a white Republican president now so all the racists are more than happy to play nice with federal authorities. And not just comply; Republicans passed a fucking law that criminalizes local priorities and mandates subservience to federal authorities.
The city leaders of Austin named in Paxton's preemptive lawsuit have each released statements. Council Member Greg Casar blasted the law as "racist and unconstitutional."
Attorney General Ken Paxton himself is still facing charges for committing securities fraud. His trial was recently moved to a less friendly venue.