Texas AG Ken Paxton
Following in the footsteps of his predecessor Greg Abbott, who sued the federal government over President Obama’s immigration policies, newly-minted Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced today (Wednesday, March 18) that he has filed suit against the U.S. Department of Labor over the revised definition of “spouse in the Family and Medical Leave Act.
Paxton is also taking a page from Alabama state Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore’s book and “advising state agencies to follow state law, not the federal rule.”
State law prohibits recognition of same-sex marriage, whereas the Department of Labor’s rule, scheduled to take effect on March 27, revises the definition of “spouse” to recognize marriage equality and therefore grant family and medical leave benefits to same-sex spouses.
According to a statement released Wednesday afternoon by Paxton’s office, “This action is a violation of federal statute, attempts to abrogate Texas’ sovereign immunity, and runs afoul of the principles of federalism recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court.”
The new rule, however, is based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s July 2013 ruling in United States v Windsor, striking down that portion of the federal Defense of Marriage Act that prohibited the federal government from giving legal recognition to same-sex marriages performed in jurisdictions that legally recognize such marriages.
Paxton’s suit also fails to consider U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia’s February 2014 ruling declaring Texas’ anti-marriage equality constitutional amendment and laws to be in violation of the U.S. Constitution. Paxton also apparently has never heard of the “supremacy clause” in U.S. Constitution, which says that when state and federal laws clash, federal laws win.
