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A Ken Paxton Moment
The author revisits Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s role in a 2020 lawsuit seeking to overturn Joe Biden’s victories in four states, saying the episode raises serious questions about his conduct as a lawyer. The article argues that Paxton’s filing used a grossly incorrect statistical claim to suggest the results were implausible, and that his failure to correct it is more troubling than the original error.
Paxton’s Supreme Court filing said Biden’s wins in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin had odds of less than one in a quadrillion, based on results early on election night. The author says that calculation was statistically unsound and that the probability of Biden winning those states was nowhere near as remote. The piece links Paxton’s handling of the claim to his candidacy for a closely contested Texas Senate seat and to concerns about respect for the rule of law.
In short
- Paxton’s 2020 court filing used a flawed statistical claim about Biden’s state wins.
- The author says the failure to correct it is the more serious concern.
- The episode is raised amid Paxton’s Texas Senate candidacy.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
A state attorney general has a duty to scrutinise election procedures and raise credible legal concerns, even when the challenge is politically contentious. Paxton’s defenders might argue that an erroneous statistical claim does not by itself show deliberate deception, and that questions about his conduct should be assessed through evidence and appropriate legal processes rather than inferred from his candidacy or political aims.
The case against
A lawyer, especially a state’s chief legal officer, has a responsibility to check factual claims before presenting them to a court and to correct material errors once identified. Critics can reasonably argue that relying on a deeply flawed calculation to cast doubt on election results, then failing to correct it, undermines public confidence in legal proceedings and the rule of law.
Explained simply
Ken Paxton is Texas’s attorney general, the state’s chief lawyer, and a prominent Republican. In 2020, he joined a lawsuit asking the US Supreme Court to set aside Joe Biden’s victories in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
The case relied in part on a claim that Biden’s wins in those states were extraordinarily unlikely, based on early election-night results. The dispute matters because it concerns how a senior lawyer used evidence in court, and because Paxton has sought higher office in Texas.