Texas Demands Illinois Arrest Democrats Who Fled to Block GOP Redistricting Scheme

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) is asking an Illinois court to force the arrest and return of House Democrats who left the state to block a mid-decade GOP congressional map redrawing.

In a petition filed Thursday in Adams County, Paxton accused the lawmakers of “harming the good order of Texas’s representative democracy” by intentionally breaking quorum and fleeing to Illinois to avoid being compelled back to the Capitol.

The filing asks the Illinois court to honor so-called “Quorum Warrants” — civil arrest orders issued by Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows (R) — and direct Illinois law enforcement to “effectuate the civil arrest” of the Democratic lawmakers.

The Democrats left Austin after Gov. Greg Abbott (R) called a special session to redraw the state’s congressional districts. The proposed map, backed by President Donald Trump, would add as many as five GOP-leaning districts — part of a national Republican strategy to lock in House seats before the 2026 midterms.

Paxton’s filing leans heavily on the U.S. Constitution’s Full Faith and Credit Clause, which generally requires states to recognize the public acts of other states. 

“This court must give full faith and credit to warrants duly issued by the Texas House of Representatives that compel these civil servants to return to Texas and to their civic responsibilities,” the petition states.“They do not have the right to deny the voices and votes of other members by withholding their own.”

The Full Faith and Credit Clause applies most strongly to final court judgments, not to legislative attendance orders, and states can refuse enforcement if it violates their own laws or public policy. Illinois could reject the request on grounds that civilly arresting lawmakers over a political protest is incompatible with its protections for legislative independence.

The current legislative special session is set to end August 20 — giving Paxton less than two weeks to get the Democrats back on the House floor for a vote.

Whether Illinois will go along with Paxton’s unprecedented request is unclear. The move sets up a potential interstate clash over lawmakers’ ability to use quorum breaks — a tactic with deep precedent in Texas politics — as a last line of defense against partisan gerrymandering.

If Illinois refuses, the fight could spill into federal court.