The Texas Supreme Court has ruled Democratic state legislators can be arrested and compelled to return to the state House to force consideration of voting legislation they previously tried to block.
Most of the Democrats who flew to Washington, D.C. — there were more than 50 who left to break quorum and fled to avoid arrest at the beginning of July — are back in Texas. That puts them back in Texas jurisdiction and, after Tuesday’s ruling, at risk of ending the nearly six-week saga due to law enforcement.
“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. We conclude that it does,” Texas Supreme Court Justice Jimmy Blacklock wrote in the all-Republican court’s opinion on Tuesday.
But the court’s confirmation they could be arrested doesn’t necessarily mean the move will end with Democratic lawmakers being led to the Texas Capitol in handcuffs — or leg irons, as Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz claimed the Legislature has the authority to compel.
TEXAS DEMOCRATS DON’T HAVE MUCH TO SHOW FOR THEIR DC JAUNT
Several of the Texas lawmakers have returned to the Capitol after the Democrats successfully quorum-busted a first special session that included consideration of a Republican bill seeking to ban 24-hour voting locations, empower partisan poll watchers, and strengthen absentee voting requirements.
More of those still sticking it out during a second special session, called by Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott after the last session ended Aug. 6, may also decide their point has been made and that it is time to return. Abbott added the spending of the COVID-19 relief fund to his priorities for the second special session, prompting some legislators to advocate returning to work.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi could have given Texas Democrats an opportunity to quit stonewalling gracefully. She specifically mentioned Texas House Democrats while announcing the introduction of H.R. 4, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, paving the way for legislators to claim a victory despite the legislation’s slim chance of passage in the Senate.
But some remain committed to slowing down the Republicans’ agenda as much as possible.
“Every day we’re denying quorum, in my view, is a good day,” state Rep. Celia Israel told Spectrum News, adding she is not worried about being arrested.
There is some incentive for Republicans not to arrest the legislative fugitive Democrats dramatically, as the Houston Chronicle editorial board wrote. Republicans may want to “avoid any martyr-making videos Dems could repurpose in TV campaign ads,” the editorial board said.
“The most disastrous optics would be the arrest of the House’s most veteran and venerated member, state Rep. Senfronia Thompson of Houston. We pity the fool who tries to force Ms. T in a squad car in her pearls,” the board wrote.
One Texas House Republican expressed opposition to arresting his Democratic colleagues.
“Have we got to the point where we believe our own bull shizz so much that we arrest our own colleagues,” he tweeted last week. “Civil discourse took a nasty turn today.”
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Texas’s state Constitution dictates at least two-thirds of legislators must be present to carry out business. In the House, that’s 100 of 150 — meaning if at least 51 of the 67 Democrats in the House are absent, it’s impossible to form a quorum.
A “call” of the House in the absence of a quorum requires every lawmaker present to leave the chamber only with written permission and notice.
Legislators tried to buy more time, with most of them back in Washington. Earlier this month, a lower Texas court granted some of the Texas Democrats a temporary restraining order that prohibited detaining or physically compelling the lawmakers from appearing at the state Capitol to meet a quorum requirement.
But the all-Republican Texas Supreme Court said Tuesday that physically compelling the lawmakers is legal.
“The view that Article III, Section 10 gives the legislature the power to physically compel members’ attendance is no mere artifact of history. Well-known modern commentaries on the Texas Constitution reinforce this longstanding interpretation,” he added.
