Yesterday, Texas Legal professional Normal (and 2026 Republican Senatorial hopeful!) Ken Paxton asked an Illinois state trial court docket to provoke “contempt proceedings” in opposition to the Democratic state legislators who decamped to that state “on an emergency foundation.” These lawmakers traveled to Illinois to deny Republicans a quorum as they search to cram by a gerrymandered map that can hand 5 extra Congressional seats to Republicans in 2026. Identical to Pricey Chief Trump ordered them to, with an help from the DOJ, which declared Texas’s present districts racist in opposition to white individuals.
“Quorum breaking” has a long history in Texas as a way of protest. Article III, Part 10 of the Texas Structure requires that two-thirds of the legislature be current to be able to conduct any legislative enterprise. The Texas Home of Representatives has 150 members, so 100 should be within the room to represent a quorum.
Beneath Rule 5, Section 8 of the Texas Home guidelines, when there isn’t any quorum current, “no enterprise shall be transacted, besides to compel the attendance of absent members or to adjourn.” Which the Texas Home Republicans promptly did, issuing so known as “quorum warrants” to that chamber’s sergeant-at-arms to effectuate the civil arrest and return of the Democratic legislators.
These warrants – and the sergeant-at-arms’s authority – are solely efficient in Texas, which is why the legislators left the state. So Paxton ran to a court docket in Illinois insisting that it implement the Home warrants beneath the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the Structure, which instructions that “Full Religion and Credit score shall be given in every State to the general public Acts, Data, and judicial Proceedings of each different State.”
Paxton calls the civil quorum warrants a “public Act,” and calls for that Illinois courts implement them. Though not simply any Illinois court docket — Paxton made darn positive to file his trollsuit in tiny Adams county, 250 miles from liberal Chicago the place the legislators are staying.
This can be as a result of the Texas legislation man is conscious that the Full Religion and Credit score clause has been used nearly solely to implement legitimate authorized judgments issued by a court docket. An “Act” by the Texas Congress, isn’t a court docket order or perhaps a legislation. It merely permits the sergeant-at-arms or its designee to arrest the lawmakers in Texas and convey them to the chamber. Paxton, who has been threatening medical doctors throughout the nation for offering abortion and gender affirming care to Texas residents, could also be confused about the place his authority ends. However regardless of all his keening that “If the Quorum Order and Quorum Warrants are usually not given full religion and credit score and are usually not enforced in Illinois, Texas is threatened with rapid and irreparable hurt for which damages are an inadequate treatment,” he’s nonetheless making an attempt to show the slender reed of the sergeant-at-arms’ energy over Home Members into the sword of a judicial warrant. And that canine gained’t hunt.
Within the meantime, Paxton appears to have been outflanked by his rival, Senator John Cornyn, who claims that he’s satisfied the FBI to hunt these demoncrats down wherever they might be.
Cornyn has been tweeting up a storm accusing Democrats of every part from fraud to placing ketchup on their nachos. He additionally had some selection phrases for his rival.
All this Texas-sized clusterfuck wants is FBI Director Kash Patel, after which it’ll actually be a celebration!
Liz Dye and Andrew Torrez produce the Legislation and Chaos Substack and podcast.
