Law enforcement officers in Texas were deputized Thursday to “immediately” begin tracking down Democratic lawmakers whose extended absence from Austin has denied the state House of Representatives a quorum for a month.
The House sergeant-at-arms, who received 52 civil arrest warrants for the missing lawmakers from Republican House Speaker Dade Phelan earlier this week, took the initiative after the Texas Supreme Court blocked more attempts to keep top Republican officials from ordering the Democrats’ arrest. Three Harris County judges granted orders, which the state Supreme Court stayed, to block the arrests of the 45 Democrats.
“Earlier today, the House sergeant-at-arms deputized members of Texas law enforcement to assist in the House’s efforts to compel a quorum. That process will begin in earnest immediately,” a spokesperson for Phelan said Thursday.
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Phelan signed the civil warrants on Tuesday to arrest the Democratic lawmakers, who left the state a month ago in protest of Republicans’ efforts to pass a voting reform bill, after the state’s high court stayed a separate temporary restraining order issued out of Travis County preventing the lawmakers’ arrest.
The warrants directed the sergeant-at-arms to take custody of any member named under warrant and “bring said member before the bar of the House instanter” to participate in the special legislative session called by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
“Nobody can detain or drag us back to the House floor against our will,” state Rep. Gene Wu told the Texas Tribune after he and his fellow Democrats gained temporary protection against the warrants. “We will not be willing participants in the silencing of our communities.”
The state House has been unable to conduct regular business during what have now become two separate special sessions after nearly 60 Democrats fled the state for Washington, D.C., on July 12.
Two-thirds of Texas lawmakers must be present in Austin to form a quorum under the state’s constitution, which also allows those who fail to participate to be legally compelled to do so.
Shortly after the Democratic exodus, Abbott and Phelan threatened to have the lawmakers arrested and brought in to work to take up a number of Republican priorities, including voting reform measures, which Democrats have slammed as regressive and unconstitutional.
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Abbott ordered the initial special session to begin in July but then ordered a second, which began Saturday, after the Democrats thwarted the Republicans’ agenda during the first.
The Democrats’ arrests are not associated with any criminal charges against the lawmakers, who cannot face fines or other penalties for their absence, according to local reports.
