The Texas Supreme Court on Friday blocked Governor Greg Abbott from removing the Democrats who went AWOL last year amid the redistricting vote.
The AP reported:
The Texas Supreme Court on Friday refused to declare that Democratic lawmakers who briefly fled the state in 2025 to block a vote on new congressional voting maps pushed by President Donald Trump had vacated their office.
The all-Republican court dealt a blow to Gov. Greg Abbott and state Republicans in their efforts to severely punish the more than 50 Democrats who bolted for New York, Illinois and Massachusetts in a bid to stop a vote on the maps during a special session. State Republicans had sought their arrest and threatened fines to bring them back to the state Capitol.
Abbott had argued in a lawsuit filed directly to the state’s highest civil court that state Rep. Gene Wu, the leader of the House Democratic caucus, and others had effectively abandoned their office.
Wu had argued that he was not abandoning his office in the quorum break, but was exercising a right to dissent.
Last August, Texas Democrats fled to Illinois to block the Republicans from voting on a new congressional redistricting map.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Texas Governor Greg Abbott threatened the derelict Democrats with arrest and removal from office if they didn’t return to the Capitol.
The Texas House finally voted last on the new Congressional map after the Democrats stonewalled them for more than two weeks.
After threatening the AWOL Democrats with removal from office and or jail, the Texas GOP Caucus voted against a motion to censure the derelict lawmakers.
The censure would have resulted in loss of chairmanship and vice-chairmanships, loss of credit for seniority for the 89th Session and Pro rata reduction in office budgets for each day the member was absent without leave.
Abbott took the fight all the way to the Texas Supreme Court.
On Friday, the Texas Supreme Court said that the Republican state lawmakers already resolved the issue through fines.
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