Court rejects Texas AG Ken Paxton’s bid to dismiss ethics complaint

DALLAS — Ruling against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a state appeals court declined to dismiss a State Bar of Texas ethics complaint accusing Paxton of dishonesty when he sought to overturn then-President Donald Trump’s 2020 election defeats in four swing states.

Paxton argued that he couldn’t be sued by the state bar’s Commission for Lawyer Discipline because he petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court as part of his official duties.

In a 2-1 ruling, the Dallas-based 5th Court of Appeals disagreed, saying the commission’s lawsuit accused Paxton of violating the state’s code of ethics, which bars lawyers from conduct “involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation.”

Paxton was sued “in his capacity as a Texas-licensed lawyer and an officer of the legal system” that subjects him to discipline if he fails to meet that system’s standards, Justice Erin A. Nowell wrote in an opinion joined by Justice Nancy Kennedy.

—The Dallas Morning News

Hochul, Adams vow crackdown on illicit NYC cannabis shops

NEW YORK — Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams celebrated Friday after securing tools in the state budget to crack down on unlicensed cannabis shops, and offered a blunt message to the illicit sellers: City and state authorities are coming after them.

“This is your warning,” declared Adams, carrying a padlock at a joint news conference with Hochul in Midtown Manhattan. “You will be locked out if you attempt to continue to sell illegal items.”

Hochul vowed the city’s sprawling gray market of cannabis shops would face a “reckoning,” saying that illegal shops had correctly assessed they would largely face consequences for flouting the state’s cannabis retailing laws.

Hochul and state lawmakers negotiated a package in the state budget that would deliver an arsenal of weapons to curb the spread of the illicit marijuana market.

—New York Daily News

Menendez bribery trial moved to May 13 as lawyer stays on case

The bribery trial of U.S. Senator Bob Menendez and two businessmen was pushed back a week to May 13 by a judge who cited negotiations on a statement that averts the need to disqualify a co-defendant’s lawyer.

U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein in New York moved the date at a hearing Friday, where the New Jersey Democrat is accused of accepting bribes of cash, gold bars and a car to help three businessmen and the Egyptian government. Menendez, 70, is also charged with acting as a foreign agent of Egypt.

Menendez, a senator since 2006, has seen his support in New Jersey and the Senate crumble since he was indicted in September, forcing him to step down as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. U.S. Rep. Andy Kim is the frontrunner in the Democratic primary for the seat in June. Menendez has said he may run as an independent.

The senator’s wife, Nadine, has an undisclosed illness and will be tried separately. Menendez is prepared to blame his wife at trial for withholding information from him about gifts they allegedly accepted from businessmen seeking favors, court records show.

—Bloomberg News

Barron Trump eyeing NYU for college, report says

As Barron Trump prepares for his high school graduation in Florida next month — which his dad, Donald Trump, might have to skip due to his criminal trial in New York — the youngest son of the former president has to decide where he’s going to college.

With the deadline for committing to a school weeks away, a report by the Daily Beast said that New York University is at the top of Barron’s list.

If so, that means that the youngest son of the former president would be returning to his hometown of New York City. At NYU, he also would be studying at a school that is about three miles from Trump Tower. That’s where he was raised for the first 11 years of his life, before he and his mother, Melania, moved to Washington, D.C., to live with his father in the White House.

But Barron’s possible choice to attend NYU raises questions. Certainly, it is a prestigious university with a roster of famous alums, including such entertainment luminaries as Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, Alec Baldwin and Anne Hathaway. Jack Dorsey also studied at NYU, where he has said he began writing the software that eventually became Twitter, which incidentally used to be Trump’s favorite way of communicating with his MAGA followers.

—Bay Area News Group

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