It’s the shot heard round the state – at least for this week. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced yesterday that the state will move to sue the Obama administration on what some say was the federal government overstepping its bounds in regards to directives issued over respecting people who are transgender using bathrooms in public schools.
But this isn’t the first time the state has decided to stick it to Uncle Sam by taking them to court – it seems that this scenario happens all too often.
Neena Satija, an investigative reporter for Texas Tribune, says that since President Barack Obama took office, Texas has filed 40 lawsuits against the federal government, including the one Attorney General Ken Paxton filed yesterday.
Paxton has filed nine since his election. Former attorney general, now Gov. Greg Abbott, filed 31 of those cases. Texas currently has 15 cases active in the courts, with many of them still pending. Many of the lawsuits are about federal regulations, and all of them cost. Satija says as of December 2015, the cost estimate was $5.1 million.
“Even if they end up losing, or if they’re still pending,” she says. “It’s saving the state money by not having to implement regulations in the meantime. That’s their argument.”
Listen to the full interview in the audio player above.
Prepared for web by Beth Cortez-Neavel.
