The special session just got more special as Republican House members try to get their Democratic colleagues to come home. They say if you love something then let it go—and if it loves you, it will come back. At the Capitol, they say if it does not come back, then issue warrants, ask the FBI to drag them home, and boot them from office.
Special Session on Pause
The Special Session at the Texas Capitol is on pause as there is no quorum in the Texas House. More than 50 Democrat House members left town, and now Republican House members along with state leadership are trying to figure out how to get them back to Austin. Governor Greg Abbott, Attorney General Ken Paxton, U.S. Senator John Cornyn, and Speaker Dustin Burrows are asking for the courts and law enforcement to help bring back the Democrat lawmakers.
Governor Abbott has requested that the Texas Rangers investigate the missing Democrats for bribery and other possible criminal violations because “reports indicate that many absentee Texas House Democrats have solicited or received funds to evade conducting legislative business and casting votes.” Under revisions passed by the legislature last decade, legislators get the privilege of being prosecuted in their home county for any public integrity-related crimes, and that includes allegations of bribery. Therefore, the special unit within the Rangers that investigates those types of crimes will send the results of their investigation (if any) to the absconding House Democrats’ hometown prosecutors for further action. The legislature has also written our bribery laws very narrowly when it comes to their own acts, with broad exceptions for almost anything that is reported as a campaign contribution, so whether the Rangers can find any fire beneath all this smoke remains to be seen.
Governor Abbott also filed a motion with the Texas Supreme Court to vacate the seat of Representative Gene Wu (D-Houston), who is the leader of the House Democratic Caucus. For his authority, Abbott cited Article 5, Section 3 of the Texas Constitution that gives that high court the power to issue writs of quo warranto, a rarely used tool to determine whether an elected official has the right to hold office. However, Attorney General Paxton quickly filed his own letter with that court asking it to ignore the governor’s petition as being something outside of his authority to request. “While the Attorney General appreciates the Governor’s passion for ensuring that the Texas House re-establishes the quorum that is necessary to discharge the important business of the Legislature, this Court’s precedent is clear that a ‘quo warranto’ proceeding ‘can only be brought by the attorney general, a county attorney, or a district attorney,’” Paxton wrote in his letter to the Supreme Court’s clerk. Instead of letting the governor jump ahead of him in line, Paxton’s stated plan is to take that kind of legal action after the expiration of the Speaker’s 1:00 p.m. deadline today for wayward members to return to their duties in Austin.
Meanwhile, Senator Cornyn—who is being challenged for his seat by Attorney General Paxton in next year’s primary—wanted to be included in the fun. From Washington, he requested that the FBI assist in bringing back Democrat lawmakers currently located in other states. The FBI acknowledged that it would assist Texas in returning the Democratic lawmakers, but there doesn’t seem to be any authority for the FBI to unilaterally enforce the administrative state warrants that Speaker Burrows issued under the Rules of the Texas House when those lawmakers did not show up this week. Those House Rules state that the House Sergeant-at-Arms can arrest absent members during a quorum break to compel their attendance, but those enforcement powers apply only within the boundaries of the State of Texas.
What’s next? Who knows! That’s what makes the Texas Legislature such a hoot to watch—you can never guess the next plot twist. Can Democratic House members stay on the lam for another 10 days to run out the clock on this special session? Will the state judiciary intervene in legislative business at the request of the executive branch? What new precedents will be set? All we can say is, if you think bad facts make bad law, wait until you see what kind of law is made by crazy facts.
Quotes of the Week
“Our state troopers protect anybody in Illinois, and anybody who’s here in Illinois. And so, whether it’s federal agents coming to Illinois or state Rangers from Texas, if you haven’t broken federal law, you’re basically unwelcome. And there’s no way that our state legislators here, Texas state legislators, can be arrested.”
—Illinois Governor JB Pritzker discussing the possibility of anyone arresting Texas Democrat House members who are residing in his state during the quorum break.
“We’re not walking out on our responsibilities; we’re walking out on a rigged system that refuses to listen to the people we represent. As of today, this corrupt special session is over.”
—Representative Gene Wu (D-Houston) explaining his reasoning for the quorum break.
“Finally. soliciting and accepting funds as consideration for the ongoing violation of legislative duties constitutes bribery under both the Texas Constitution and the Texas Penal Code.”
—Governor Abbott in his filing for an Emergency Petition For Writ of Quo Warranto asking the Supreme Court to remove Representative Gene Wu (D-Houston) from office.