Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is ready to take over from Texas’s outgoing attorney general as the “commander in chief” of Republican legal battles against political rivals. Until now, particularly during the administrations of President Joe Biden and Barack Obama, that role has been filled by the attorney general of Texas, the most populous Republican state. The situation changed with the decisive victory of the “blue” side in the Lone Star State.
Next January, Nathan Johnson will become the first Democratic attorney general of Texas since 1999, when Dan Morales left the office. In the Nov. 3 election, Johnson stunned Republican Mayes Middleton, who could have succeeded Ken Paxton in the post. Paxton, who is leaving the office, lost his race for a U.S. Senate seat to James Talarico and will be “unemployed” starting in January. The GOP’s defeat in Texas was sealed by Gina Hinojosa’s victory over Gov. Greg Abbott, who has led the state for three terms.
According to an analysis by the Texas Tribune, cited by Politico, Paxton and his predecessor Greg Abbott (who served as Texas attorney general before becoming governor) filed at least 48 lawsuits against the Obama administration. During Joe Biden’s four-year presidency, Paxton filed more than 100 lawsuits against the federal government.
Ashley Taylor, co-chair of the state attorneys general team at the law firm Troutman Pepper Locke, said the political shift in Texas will create “something of a leadership vacuum” that Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier could fill. A former aide to Gov. Ron DeSantis, he now runs the largest attorney general’s office under Republican control.
One of Uthmeier’s first decisions after the GOP’s defeat in the midterm elections was to target the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), a faction of the Democratic Party that has scored a series of victories in the latest elections across the United States, including in Los Angeles and Washington. Uthmeier’s office will examine whether the DSA received foreign funding, including from Cuba and the People’s Republic of China.
Uthmeier is also taking legal action against tech giants. According to Politico, he was the first state attorney general to sue OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT. Florida, along with New Mexico, also declined to join a broad multistate agreement on child safety and the activities of Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram. Instead, it chose to pursue its own case in court in Pasco County.
“Voters in Florida gave us four more years, and we will use every one of those days,” Uthmeier told Politico.
Meanwhile, the incoming Texas attorney general has announced a review of cases launched by his predecessor. Nathan Johnson intends to assess which lawsuits have sufficient legal grounds and which primarily serve “political purposes.” He also said he is prepared to take action against the administration of Donald Trump if he concludes it is overstepping its authority.
Editor: JŁ
Source: Słoneczne Radio
