Another month and likely yet another troubling delay in Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s trials on felony securities fraud charges.

Paxton was indicted three long years ago, and frustratingly, it seems we’re no closer to seeing any resolution. This case has dragged on far too long. The longer the state’s top lawyer has this legal cloud over his head, the more embarrassing for Texas.

It’s past time we sort these charges out in a court of law. Paxton is either innocent — as he professes — of duping friends to invest in a questionable McKinney technology firm as he’s charged, or he’s not. Either way, taxpayers deserve to know.

The latest major setback involves a recent Texas Court of Appeals ruling that prosecutors pursuing charges against Paxton should have been paid a fixed rate instead of an hourly one. The court basically sided with commissioners in Collin County — where this case originated — that their six-figure compensation fell outside the legal limits.

The prosecutors have threatened to step down if they lost this fight, forcing new attorneys to be selected. We hope they decide to end this wrangling and abide by the court ruling. If they don’t, it means months and months of trying to find new prosecutors who will have to start all over again.

Delaying this case further is a disservice to all of us — especially to Paxton.

That's why we're flummoxed about why Paxton would be pleased with the ruling. His spokesman, Jordan Berry, told The Dallas Morning News that Paxton "is extremely grateful for the court's decision."

You’d think Paxton, of all people, would be eager to prove his innocence in court. Instead, Paxton himself has been responsible for some of the delays with unsuccessful attempts to have the charges thrown out. (A change-of-venue to Harris County — where the courthouse is still reeling from hurricane damage — has caused others.)

As we’ve said before, Paxton deserves the presumption of innocence. However, the bar for credibility and the public trust must be higher for the state's lawyer.

We find it difficult, for example, to accept Paxton's claim that the case is politically motivated. First, the charges emanate from a Collin County grand jury in the solidly Republican district he once represented in the state Legislature. Second, Paxton voted to make failure to register as an investment agent a felony, one of the laws he's accused of violating.

We’ve often disagreed with Paxton’s embrace of far-right stances on issues such as LGBT rights, immigration and federal environmental issues. Still, despite the federal charges against him, he narrowly won re-election earlier this month to a second term.

That means Paxton is the state’s lawyer in all legal matters. His personal legal drama casts a negative light on all the decisions he makes.

It’s time we resolve this case — one way or the other — and move forward.

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