Ken Paxton’s Tylenol Lawsuit Is Off To A Terrible Start

from the 0-for-2 dept

Ken Paxton’s bullshit lawsuit against the makers of Tylenol, built on Trump and RFK Jr.’s bullshit press conference in which they pretended that science says acetaminophen causes autism, is off to a predictably bad start. I had a bit of a laugh shortly after this turd was filed, mainly because Kennedy himself came out after the lawsuit was filed to walk back the claims made in the press conference and acknowledged that all that science he and Trump cited “is not sufficient to say it definitely causes autism.” And, while Trump repeatedly instructed women to not take Tylenol while pregnant, a stance medical professionals overwhelmingly disagree with, Kennedy instead said women should consult with their doctors on its use.

Well, it’s early on in this nonsense, but Paxton has already lost on two requests he made as part of it.

A Texas Judge has rejected a request from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to issue a temporary order barring Tylenol’s maker, Kenvue, from claiming amid litigation that the pain and fever medication is safe for pregnant women and children, according to court documents.

In records filed Friday, District Judge LeAnn Rafferty, in Panola County, also rejected Paxton’s unusual request to block Kenvue from distributing $400 million in dividends to shareholders later this month.

Now, it’s important to acknowledge that Paxton is simply doing performative MAGA bullshit with this lawsuit. He’s running for the Senate seat currently held by John Cornyn, who is also seeking reelection. Wesley Hunt joins them to compete in the Republican primary for the seat. All of these men are simply attempting to out-MAGA one another.

The TRO request to keep Kenvue, current makers of the Tylenol brand, from stating that its product is safe for use by pregnant women and children, was always absurd. But it was made all the more so when Kennedy walked back his press conference claims. Judge Rafferty noted that she:

…denied the marketing claim, which even the Trump administration is not standing by. The day after Paxton filed his lawsuit, Kennedy said that “the causative association… between Tylenol given in pregnancy and the perinatal periods is not sufficient to say it definitely causes autism.”

Like I said in my previous post on this: very funny.

As for the dividend disbursement, for which Paxton relies on a Texas law preventing companies giving out such funds if they are about to become financially insolvent, the court simply didn’t have jurisdiction to issue any such order.

According to Reuters, one of Kenvue’s lawyers, Kim Bueno, explained that the problem with the state of Texas making this request is that Kenvue is based in New Jersey and incorporated in Delaware. “There was no jurisdiction to challenge that,” she said.

All this flailing about would be merely unbecoming, except that Paxton is a damned state AG. He should, and likely does, no better than all of this. As I said before, this is performative nonsense designed to do nothing more than gain primary votes in a Senate race.

But in today’s political climate, you can see just how much chaos can be generated by an ignoramus like RFK Jr.

Filed Under: ken paxton, leann rafferty, rfk jr., texas, tylenol

Companies: johnson & johnson, kenvue