Paxton appeals injunction blocking Texas case against ActBlue
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is asking a federal appeals court to overturn an order that stopped his office from continuing a state consumer-protection case against ActBlue.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is appealing a Massachusetts federal court order that blocked his office from continuing a state consumer-protection lawsuit against ActBlue.
Paxton filed an opening brief with the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The appeal challenges a preliminary injunction U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns issued on June 11. The order prevents Paxton’s office from continuing the Texas case or filing another state enforcement action based on the same conduct.
The Texas Attorney General’s Office sued ActBlue in state court in April, accusing the fundraising platform of violating the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act. The office says ActBlue misled consumers about safeguards meant to stop fraudulent or potentially illegal political donations. Paxton’s office also alleges ActBlue said it had stopped accepting gift-card donations, but investigators later made multiple gift-card donations through the platform.
ActBlue responded by suing Paxton in federal court in Massachusetts and asking for the Texas case to be stopped. In granting the injunction, Stearns found ActBlue was likely to succeed, said there was evidence the Texas suit was politically motivated and concluded ActBlue’s activities involved political speech protected by the First Amendment.
Paxton disputes those conclusions. In the appeal, he argues the Massachusetts court lacked jurisdiction, was an improper venue and interfered with an ongoing Texas proceeding. He also says the matter concerns Texas consumer-protection law, not federal campaign finance.
Paxton said, “A federal court in Massachusetts is wrong to prevent Texas from enforcing its own consumer protection laws against entities doing business in our State.”
The briefing did not say when the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals might act. Paxton is asking the appeals court to reverse the injunction and direct the Massachusetts district court to dismiss ActBlue’s lawsuit.
Sources
Editorial note: This article was prepared with AI assistance and includes source attribution for reader review.
View the Web StoryA visual, tap-through version of this reportThis is the AMP version of the article. Read the full article on Atlas Watchline.