Pearl River We don’t read much about it, because the news these days is so DC and Trump-centric, but if we really want to understand what a weaponized US Justice Department might look like in going after opponents without any pretense of following the rule of law or the Constitution, all we have to do is look at what’s been happening in Texas under rouge Attorney General Ken Paxton. The Texas legislature failed to put the votes together for his impeachment, not because they didn’t have cause, they just didn’t have the numbers. Whistleblowers who were the deputies in his office are suing him and the state of Texas for over $6-million for retaliations after they came forward.
Don’t just say it’s like that in Texas, because we’re already seeing too much that feels the same in the early months of the new regime at the Justice Department. Cases dropped against Capital One for a $2-billion interest rip-off of its customers, free passes for Jan 6th storm troops, suspension of cases on foreign corruption, attacks on civil rights offices as discriminatory, and an endless list of other examples.
I was reminded of how vindictive using state legal resources offensively against political enemies can get by a text message I had almost forgotten about while on the road visiting ACORN offices, organizers, and leaders in India. My longtime comrade and friend, Orell Fitzsimmons, now representing Texas in the wilds of New Jersey, texted me that one of our former organizers was trying to find me. Alain Cisneros had been a star organizer for Texas ACORN and its successor in Houston and did a brief stint with Local 100, but his heart was in organizing around immigrant rights, especially in storm recovery after too frequent weather disasters in the city. Coming back to the US, I remembered the message, and with apologies responded to Alain. He wanted to see a copy of the ACORN bylaws. It was a strange request, so sending them, I asked what was up?
Alain sent me a link to an article in the Texas Tribune almost six months ago that was news to me, even as it seemed to forecast too much of the future. The organization where he works, FIEL — a Spanish acronym for Familias Inmigrantes y Estudiantes en la Lucha, which translates to Immigrant Families and Students in the Fight, had been sued in Houston courts by Paxton, essentially for doing its job of advocating for immigrants and making sure they know their rights. Paxton had claimed FIEL “violated federal rules that govern nonprofits’ political involvement by criticizing former President Donald Trump, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and a new state immigration law” and asked the judge to “issue a temporary injunction stopping FIEL’s current operations. After the court considers the merits of the suit, the state asked for a revocation and termination of FIEL’s corporate registration and certificate of formation, dissolution of its existence and a permanent injunction stopping the group from doing business again in Texas.” In Alain’s email, he also mentioned that Paxton was trying to fine FEIL $250,000.
It almost goes without saying that Paxton’s charges are meritless efforts to police protected speech. The point is harassment and running up their legal bills. Luckily, they have great representation in MALDEF, the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund. An ACLU lawyer commenting on the case said,
The attorney general’s latest attack on an immigrants’ rights organization follows a familiar formula of loudly publicized harassment and targeted misinformation to create fear and confusion,” said David Donatti, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Texas. “Once again, he wishes to eliminate efforts to educate immigrants, their families, and our communities about our constitutional rights.
FIEL is classified as a 501c3 nonprofit by the IRS, so any revocation of its status is a federal, not a state matter. For all the sound and fury, there has never been any clarification by the IRS of what the limits of speech or advocacy might be for such organizations. Churches routinely are overtly political from the pulpit. Trump’s own foundation made political donations. This is just an example of what we’re likely to see almost routinely of what is called a SLAPP or Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation suit to punish an organization for free speech.
There’s another lesson here for nonprofits. In the same way that Musk and Zuckerberg have rechartered their organizations in Texas, rather than California to escape regulation there, it makes sense for nonprofits to recharter almost anywhere outside of Texas as well.
Time to batten the hatches. This is all trouble coming to our front doors, when the government accepts no limits to its ability to wreak havoc, seek vengeance, and chill fundamental rights.