Arrest warrants signed for 52 Texas Democrats
Move makes possible a roundup of legislators
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 members of racial minority groups.
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 move likely will further inflame partisan tension in the House.
Rep. Chris Turner, who chairs the Texas House Democratic Caucus, said Tuesday that 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: Rep. Lyle Larson, 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,” Larson tweeted. “Civil discourse took a nasty turn today.”
Fugitive Democrats remain defiant, and an untold number are outside the reach of the House sergeant-at-arms and state troopers.
“I just question whether [state troopers] or anyone can break down my door to come and put me in shackles and drag me there,” said Rep. Vikki Goodwin, a Democrat. “I feel certain that I can stay in my home, and stay off the House floor.”
At least two dozen House Democrats have stayed in Washington, D.C., where 57 of them camped out for all or most of a month to run out the clock on Abbott’s first special session.
“We broke quorum because anti-voter bills are nefarious attempts to disenfranchise Texans & these authoritarian motions by Republicans just cement that we are on the right side of history,” Rep. Eddie Rodriguez wrote on Twitter. “We must hold the line against these desperate attempts to destroy our democracy.”
The move was a victory for Abbott, who called for arrests to reestablish a quorum after nearly 60 Democrats fled the state last month. A group of House Democrats filed a lawsuit over the weekend to preempt possible arrests, arguing the state’s power to detain “cannot be used for political purposes.”
After advocating for federal voter protections for nearly a month, a number of House Democrats have returned to Texas — including some who returned to the House floor Monday. Still, the House remained without the 100 lawmakers necessary to do business.
The decision from the state Supreme Court to permit the warrants was issued Tuesday morning without analysis or comment.
State District Judge Brad Urrutia, a Democrat, said Monday that Democrats would suffer “imminent and irreparable harm” if Republicans were not barred from ordering arrests.
“The Supreme Court of Texas swiftly rejected this dangerous attempt by Texas Democrats to undermine our Constitution and avoid doing the job they were elected to do,” Renae Eze, Abbott’s spokeswoman, said in a statement Monday.
Texas House Democrats broke quorum for the third time over the weekend, as Phelan opened a second special legislative session aimed at approving new voting restrictions, among other agenda items.
Rep. Art Fierro, a Democrat who returned to the chamber floor, said the lawmakers had successfully “elevated the conversation about voter suppression” and predicted “concrete protections coming” for voters at the federal level.
In anticipation of possible action by the U.S. Senate, Texas House Democrats announced Saturday that 26 of them would maintain an “active presence in Washington … for as long as Congress is working and making progress” on the issue of voting rights.