Texas AG Ken Paxton: Fighting Biden's radical policies – here's how Texas, others can stand up for rule of law

With Joe Biden in the White House and Democrats controlling both chamber of Congress, it is imperative that the individual states exercise their constitutional authority to provide the necessary checks and balances that a Democrat-led legislative branch will not.  

As James Madison said in Federalist No. 45: "The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the State." 

It is with Madison’s sentiment in mind that I am proud to lead the way for Texas in providing the necessary counterweight to the far-left Democrats forcing dangerously radical policies upon us. 

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To illustrate that point, within days of taking office, Biden signed a flurry of executive orders in an attempt to undue the law and order polices of President Trump. The most egregious of those orders came from the Department of Homeland Security in a Jan. 21, 2021, memorandum setting a moratorium on deportations of most illegal aliens, including those that have committed a crime in the United States. 

Two days after DHS’ memorandum, my office filed the first of what will be many lawsuits against the Biden administration to immediately halt its dangerous and illegal freeze on the deportation of illegal aliens. Not only would this action by the administration have been a complete abdication of its obligation to enforce federally enacted laws, but it would endanger Texas, which has the largest section of the southern border in the country. 

After filing that lawsuit, the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Texas agreed with us, issuing a temporary restraining order preventing the Biden administration from implementing its moratorium. The court has now indefinitely extended that by issuing a nationwide injunction blocking the moratorium.  

This was a major win for the rule of law, national security and the safety of Texas citizens. And we won’t stop there. 

Earlier this month, I also signed a letter along with 13 other state attorneys general warning President Biden that we were reviewing legal options to fight back against his Jan. 20, 2021, executive order revoking the permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline.  

Texas will use every legal means necessary to force the Biden administration to adhere to the rule of law.

Not only did this divisive action end thousands of well-paying jobs, many of which are union jobs, but the pipeline increases Americans’ access to low-cost energy sources at a time when the last thing hard-working American families need is to see their utility prices rise.

Moreover, attacks on clean, low-cost domestic energy provides a direct benefit to our geopolitical rivals like Russia and China, who are laughing their way back to energy dominance after four years of America being on its way to full energy independence. 

But in addition to the Biden administration’s radical actions on immigration enforcement and domestic energy, they have also threatened to take drastic measures to curb our Second Amendment rights. If those threats become a reality, Texas will once again step to the forefront to defend the individual liberties of its citizens against the massive power grab by the Biden-led federal government. 

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Ironically, the same people now in charge of our federal government spent the past four years trying to stop the Trump administration from implementing policies that upheld the rule of law.  

They sued to prevent federal law enforcement grants being conditioned on local municipalities enforcing immigration laws and preventing sanctuary cities. They sued to stop the travel ban, dishonestly mislabeling it a "Muslim ban" and ultimately losing before the Supreme Court.

And they even sued the Trump administration for scrapping a "diversity training" program that included "reducing people to a racial essence, segregating them, and judging them by their group identity rather than individual character, behavior and merit." 

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Unlike those lawsuits, which were filed with the goal of trying to prevent the Trump administration from enforcing the rule of law, Texas will use every legal means necessary to force the Biden administration to adhere to the rule of law and will seek to block any executive action or legislation that does not do so.  

It is now up to the states to save this country from President Biden’s liberal and illegal wish list and the Office of the Attorney General of Texas stands ready to lead in that mission. 

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