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A federal judge in Boston issued a preliminary injunction barring Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton from pursuing a state lawsuit against ActBlue after finding the case was retaliatory and targeted protected political activity.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
A federal judge in Massachusetts has stopped Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton from moving forward with a state court lawsuit against ActBlue, ruling that the case was brought in retaliation for the Democratic fundraising platform’s political activity in the 2026 U.S. Senate race.
U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns issued a preliminary injunction Thursday blocking Paxton from continuing the Texas case while ActBlue’s federal claims proceed in Boston. The judge found that Paxton’s lawsuit was aimed at ActBlue’s support for Democrat James Talarico, who is running against Paxton for the Senate seat.
“The truth is plain and captured in Paxton’s own declarations: The lawsuit was filed in retaliation for (and in an attempt to suppress) ActBlue’s efforts to fund Talarico’s campaign,” Stearns wrote.
Stearns concluded that the Texas action sought to interfere with political speech protected by the First Amendment. Neither Paxton’s office nor ActBlue immediately responded to requests for comment.
Paxton, the Republican nominee in the Senate race, filed the Texas lawsuit in April. The case targeted ActBlue, a Massachusetts-based online fundraising platform that says it has raised billions of dollars for Democratic candidates and causes since it was founded in 2004.
The Texas suit sought civil penalties and a court order preventing ActBlue from accepting certain gift card donations. Paxton alleged that the platform engaged in deceptive practices by resuming gift card and foreign prepaid debit card donations after telling Congress it had stopped processing those transactions. He said the practices could allow foreign nationals to conceal their identities while contributing to political campaigns, potentially violating state law.
The lawsuit came as Republican officials and lawmakers have increased scrutiny of online fundraising platforms. The Trump administration has also directed the Department of Justice to examine issues tied to political fundraising operations.
ActBlue responded in May by filing its own federal lawsuit in Boston. The platform argued that Paxton’s investigation and state lawsuit were unconstitutional retaliation intended to punish it for helping Democratic candidates, specifically Talarico. ActBlue asked the federal court to declare Paxton’s actions violations of the First and Fourteenth Amendments and to block enforcement of the Texas case.
Stearns granted ActBlue’s request for preliminary relief and criticized what he described as Paxton’s history of filing retaliatory lawsuits. The injunction prevents Paxton from advancing the state case while the federal litigation continues.
ActBlue, long a central platform for small-dollar donations to Democratic candidates and progressive organizations, has also faced recent congressional scrutiny. Regina Wallace-Jones, the platform’s CEO, appeared before a House Administration Committee hearing as Republican members questioned ActBlue’s procedures for detecting and screening foreign contributions and other issues.
During that hearing, Wallace-Jones invoked her Fifth Amendment right. In an opinion article published the same day in The Washington Post, she wrote that she would do so “against self-incrimination.”
Thursday’s ruling allows ActBlue to continue operating while the related legal claims move through the courts. The underlying dispute remains unresolved, but Paxton is barred for now from pursuing the Texas lawsuit that Stearns found was retaliatory and aimed at constitutionally protected political activity.
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