What to know about Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s long-running scandals and legal battles

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton attends an October press conference in Austin about a pilot program to dispose of medications, especially opioids. (Credit: Sergio Flores for The Texas Tribune)

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the state’s top lawyer and one of its most powerful and controversial Republicans, has faced criminal investigations, legal battles and accusations of wrongdoing for years. Still, he’s remained popular with Texas voters and in 2022 was elected to serve a third four-year term.

But after Paxton asked state budget writers to spend public money on a proposed $3.3 million settlement to end a lawsuit by former staffers who accused him of on-the-job retaliation, the Texas House General Investigating Committee launched a secret probe into the attorney general’s behavior. In a stunning public hearing on May 24, House investigators publicly detailed allegations of a yearslong pattern of misconduct and questionable actions by Paxton.