Texas Republicans Are Passing Their Gerrymander. But They Still Want Dems Ousted for Quorum Break
Texas Democratic lawmakers returned this week from a two-week quorum break, allowing Republicans to pass their extreme gerrymander.
But two top state Republicans – Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton – are still pushing forward with dueling lawsuits seeking to remove the Democrats from office.
The contest underscores how the GOP’s brazen power play has obliterated longstanding democratic norms and abandoned any concern for the will of voters.
A group of House Democrats left the state earlier this month, preventing Republicans from having enough members present to hold a vote on a redistricting plan initiated by the White House that could add five more GOP seats in Congress.
Though breaking quorum is a long-standing legislative strategy, Texas Republicans are continuing to pursue escalating legal actions against their opponents.
Abbott and Paxton are publicly quarreling over which of them has the authority to bring lawsuits aiming to oust the Democrats. Both men filed new briefs with the Texas Supreme Court this week, claiming Democrats abandoned their offices by leaving the state, and arguing the court should declare their seats vacant.
State Rep. Gene Wu – chair of the Texas House Democratic Caucus, and a defendant in both lawsuits – argued only the Texas House had the power to remove a member from office, and that Republicans were asking the court to violate the separation of powers principle.
The court asked Abbott and Paxton to file briefs addressing sections of the Texas Constitution that indicate the authority to expel members lies solely with the House itself.
With most quorum-breaking Democrats back in Austin, Paxton and Abbott could have dropped their lawsuits, but instead filed responses reiterating that the court should declare Democrats’ offices vacant.
“Every day that passes, Gene Wu purports to exercise authority that he no longer possesses,” Abbott’s brief said, adding that Wu’s return came too late and the lawmaker “already forfeited his office.”
Despite filing his brief hours after the House already passed the map, Paxton argued his lawsuit was necessary because “the House lacked the two-thirds quorum necessary to conduct business, including modifying its rules or expelling Respondents.”
Paxton failed to mention that, with a House quorum restored, the House has the ability to vote on expelling Democrats – but lacks the necessary votes to do so.
The briefs are just the latest developments in weeks of lawfare.
House leadership immediately issued civil arrest warrants when Democrats left the state. Republican leaders accused Democrats of committing bribery to fund their quorum break, and they explicitly threatened to hunt down Democrats and return them by any means – despite knowing the warrants could not be enforced outside of Texas while Democrats were under the protection of blue state governors.
Paxton filed petitions in Illinois and California asking courts to arrest and return Democratic lawmakers. U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R) enlisted the FBI’s assistance to arrest Democrats.
Paxton sued former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D) for funding quorum-breaking Democrats, then accused O’Rourke of violating a temporary restraining order and argued “imprisonment is absolutely necessary.”
Republicans required returning Democrats to sign a permission slip putting them in police custody until the House passed the map Wednesday. When State Rep. Nicole Collier refused to consent to police custody and was not permitted to leave the Capitol, she filed a habeas corpus petition alleging she was being confined illegally.
Republicans’ fixation on punishing Democrats shows no sign of slowing. Abbott added more business to the special session agenda this week, calling on Republican lawmakers to pass legislation “to impose penalties or punishments for legislators who willfully absent themselves during a session.”