Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has failed to reverse a preliminary injunction currently blocking him from probing Media Matters for America (MMFA) in defense of Elon Musk's social media platform X.
On Friday, a US appeals court upheld the injunction. In his opinion, senior Circuit Judge Harry T. Edwards wrote that there was "ample" evidence that Paxton "pursued a retaliatory campaign" against MMFA "because they published an unfavorable article about X.com." And MMFA has standing to raise a First Amendment defense, because "the First Amendment generally 'prohibits government officials from subjecting individuals to retaliatory actions after the fact for having engaged in protected speech," Edwards wrote.
Edwards noted that the day after X sued MMFA over reporting on antisemitic pos