Texas House Speaker signs civil arrest warrants to return absent Democrats to chamber
Category: News & Politics
Via: tessylo • 3 years ago • 5 commentsBy: Madlin Mekelburg, Austin American-Statesman
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Texas House Speaker signs civil arrest warrants to return absent Democrats to chamber
AUSTIN, Texas — House Speaker Dade Phelan late Tuesday signed 52 arrest warrants for Democrats who left the state for Washington D.C. in July and have yet to return to the House chamber for the second special legislative session of the year.
The warrants came after Texas House Republicans voted to direct state law enforcement to track down and compel the attendance of absent Democrats by a vote of 80-12, the second time such a vote has been taken during this quorum-bust.
The warrants, first reported by the Dallas Morning News, will be delivered to the House Sergeant-at-arms Wednesday morning, according to Phelan spokesperson Enrique Marquez.
Democrats were able to avoid the reach of state lawmakers during the first special session of the year by crossing state lines for their quorum bust. But since the start of the second special session, some Democrats have begun returning to Texas, even as they continue to avoid entering the House chamber.
While some members have returned home or traveled to other locations outside of Texas, almost half of the 57 Democrats who originally broke quorum said they plan to stay in Washington and push for federal voting rights legislation.
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State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, D-Austin, said he is still in Washington and does not plan on returning to the House “anytime real soon.”
“We’re united in staying away from the House as long as possible,” Rodriguez said, adding that he and many of his colleagues do not believe Phelan has the authority to issue arrest warrants for absent members. “The court will have to make some kind of decision on whether that’s something that can be done or not.”
A group of the quorum-busting Democrats have filed two lawsuits in response to Republican efforts to bring them back to the House floor to establish a quorum, including one in federal court that argues these GOP efforts infringe on their constitutional rights.
They also filed suit in a Travis County state district court, where a judge issued an order prohibiting the arrest of absent members. But the Texas Supreme Court on Tuesday temporarily blocked the order in response to an emergency petition from Phelan and Gov. Greg Abbott.
State Rep. Lyle Larson, R-San Antonio, was the lone Republican to vote against authorizing the use of arrest warrants to compel attendance in the chamber.
“Have we got to the point where we believe our own bull shizz so much that we arrest our own colleagues,” he said on Twitter . “Civil discourse took a nasty turn today.”
Phelan signed just one arrest warrant during the first special session, for Rep. Philip Cortez of San Antonio. Cortez was one of the 57 Democrats to break quorum and head to Washington, but he returned to Austin and said he hoped to negotiate over the language of the GOP elections bill.
One day later, he returned to Washington and Phelan signed the warrant for his arrest.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas House speaker signs arrest warrants for absent state Democrats
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Fuck them! Trying to take everyone's eyes away from Abbott's impotence and Tex-Ass trying to pass voter suppression bills.
Look at that big, big gavel. So impressed!
You are absolutely correct- fuck all of the Democrats for running away from doing their damn jobs; and fuck them all for lying about the about the bill they are so supposedly afraid of. Maybe if they would do some damn research they would find that such Democratic bastions of stupidity as New Hampshire, Connecticut, Mass., and New York have far more stringent voting laws than what is in this bill.
Hopefully they all get arrested and detained until they do their damn jobs!
I hope the Republicans in the US Senate are watching this BS. They should all just go home and not return when the Democrats try to pass their massive reconciliation pork bill. Seems Democrats and the left are more than OK with with politicians not doing their damn jobs! So go home and get and early start on mid term election campaigning and fund raising. Make sure everyone knows that Democrats (who somehow managed to get an extra reconciliation when Republicans were only allowed 1 when they were in charge); don't give a rats ass about them; and are trying to pass legislation that will ruin the middle class forever. All in the name of a massive spending bill promoting an agenda the majority of US voters don't agree with.
Mid terms cannot come quick enough.
Fuck the gop! Fuck Tex-ass is who I was referring to, as you know.
Townhall is your source?
Pathetic.
You're confused, it's the gop who aren't doing dick.
Good ..... do the job you were elected to do dimwits or go to jail.
A perfectly appropriate response if they keep shirking their duties.
It's the dicks in the gop who don't do dick.