Texas Supreme Court rules fleeing House Democrats can be arrested
The Texas Supreme Court has ruled that the Democratic lawmakers of the state House who fled to Washington to block the passage of a voting restrictions bill can be arrested.
“The legal question before this Court concerns only whether the Texas Constitution gives the House of Representatives the authority to physically compel the attendance of absent members,” Justice Jimmy Blacklock wrote in the court’s opinion. “We conclude that it does, and we therefore direct the district court to withdraw the TRO.”
The ruling by the court comes nearly a month after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to return the Democrats to the state Capitol even by using force.
“If these people want to be hanging out wherever they're hanging out on this taxpayer-paid junket, they're going to have to be prepared to do it for well over a year,” Abbott said.
“As soon as they come back in the state of Texas, they will be arrested, they will be cabined inside the Texas Capitol until they get their job done,” he added.
The Texas Senate, however, approved the restrictive voting legislation on July 14 after 51 Democrats in the state’s lower house decamped to Washington to block passage of the bill by preventing a quorum that is necessary for a special session.
The bill, passed by a party-line vote of 18-4, includes restrictions on absentee voting and forbids drive-through voting, which many believe were the Democrats’ trump card in the 2020 presidential elections.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden lambasted the efforts by former President Donald Trump and his Republican allies to sow doubt about the election as an existential threat to democracy.
“We’re facing the most significant test of our democracy since the Civil War,” Biden added. “I’m not saying this to alarm you, I’m saying this because you should be alarmed.”
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