Texas House issues warrants for 52 Dems
State’s top court ruling cleared way for dramatic move
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan signed civil arrest warrants for 52 absent Democrats late Tuesday, setting in motion the potential roundup of lawmakers who have avoided the Capitol in order to stymie a Republican elections bill they say would harm minorities.
The House voted 80-12 Tuesday to force the fugitives to return, just hours after the Texas Supreme Court cleared the way for the House to order them back to the chamber to secure a quorum.
The warrants will be delivered to the House sergeant-at-arms Wednesday morning, according to Phelan spokesman Enrique Marquez.
Grand Prairie Rep. Chris Turner, who chairs the Texas House Democratic Caucus, said Tuesday it’s “fully within our rights as legislators to break quorum to protect our constituents.”
“Texas House Democrats are committed to fighting with everything we have against Republicans’ attacks on our freedom to vote,” he said in a statement.
One Republican voted against authorizing arrest warrants: state Rep. Lyle Larson, of San Antonio, who has been openly critical of the elections bill that Gov. Greg Abbott has demanded.
“Have we got to the point where we believe our own bull shizz so much that we arrest our own colleagues,” Mr. Larson tweeted.
Fugitive Democrats remain defiant, and an untold number are outside the reach of the House sergeantat-arms and state troopers.
At least two dozen House Democrats have stayed in Washington, where 57 of them camped out for all or most of a month to run out the clock on Mr. Abbott’s first special session.