Ken Paxton’s tenure as Texas Attorney General is not merely a chronicle of personal misconduct—it is a systemic unraveling of institutional checks, legal norms, and democratic accountability. From felony fraud and retaliatory prosecutions to vote suppression and partisan legal warfare, Paxton has weaponized the state’s top law enforcement office in ways that echo historical patterns of institutional decay—from the impeachments of James E. Ferguson and Jim Mattox to the authoritarian drift seen in regimes that hollow out law to serve power. Paxton’s legal troubles began in 2015 when he was indicted on felony securities fraud charges for soliciting investments in … Continue reading Ken Paxton and the Collapse of Institutional Restraint: A Historical Warning