Abbott
AUSTIN, Texas (Legal Newsline) - Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has filed more than 20 lawsuits against the federal government since President Barack Obama was elected in 2008.
According to a report by The Associated Press, those lawsuits have cost the state more than $2.5 million and more than 14,000 man hours.
And of the 24 lawsuits filed, more than than most have resulted in defeats -- including two high-profile suits over the state's voter ID law and new state-approved voting districts.
Last month, a three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia concluded that Texas "failed to show that any of the redistricting plans merits preclearance."
Preclearance, or preapproval, is a VRA requirement for jurisdictions like Texas that have a history of discrimination against minority voters.
Abbott had sued seeking a declaratory ruling by the panel to bypass the U.S. Department of Justice's preclearance requirement.
Abbott has sinced vowed to appeal the ruling and that in the voter ID case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The two cases, alone, have cost the state more than $2 million, the AP found.
Abbott, in an interview with the AP, defended the hefty legal costs.
He called the suits "a fight against the unprecedented ideology coming from the Obama administration," and said they are intended to help promote business and industry and protect the state's jobs.
From Legal Newsline: Reach Jessica Karmasek by email at jessica@legalnewsline.com.