Texas Supreme Court rules quorum-breaking Democrats can be arrested, returned to House chamber

Updated at 9:45 p.m. with new information throughout.

AUSTIN – The Texas Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that House Democrats who are boycotting a special session of the Legislature can be arrested and pushed back to their chambers.

“The legal issue before this court concerns only whether the Texas Constitution gives the House of Representatives the power to physically enforce the presence of absent members,” said a written statement signed by Judge James D. Blacklock, who issued the statement for all drafted -Republican court. “We conclude that this is the case and therefore instruct the district court to withdraw the TRO [temporary restraining order]. “

The Supreme Court opinion nullifies the lower court ruling and clarifies that the state constitution allows quorum breakers to be physically arrested and returned to the Capitol.

Republican House of Representatives Speaker Dade Phelan has taken a delicate approach to luring Democrats back into the House of Representatives. With the ruling by the Supreme Court, he can step up his efforts.

House Democrats broke the quorum during a special session in July to block an electoral law controlled by the GOP that they claim is designed to suppress the votes of black and Hispanic residents. More than 50 of the Democrats camped in the country’s capital, a move that served to avoid arrest and draw national attention to what they called the need for stronger federal voting rights.

The Democratic boycott extended to the second special session Abbott convened 10 days ago. And now most of the House Democrats have returned to Texas from Washington and other places.

Samuel E. Bassett, one of the attorneys for the 19 Democrats who sued in Travis County District Court to prevent possible arrests, said he was disappointed with the Supreme Court decision.

“Today’s statement was written by the former General Counsel of Governor Abbott,” said Bassett of Blacklock. “We feel that there are important issues at stake here when politicians start ordering the arrest of other politicians.”

Bassett said his clients wanted a “fair and balanced hearing in a court that hears both sides.”

“It may be that the federal courts or other courts are the right forum to bring our arguments,” he said.

Meanwhile, Republicans argue that their electoral law encourages voting and protects against fraud. They have insisted that the Democrats return to the House of Representatives Chamber to negotiate or argue their positions.

Last week, unable to meet the quorum required to conduct business, members of the Republican House of Representatives directed Phelan to sign arrest warrants for over 50 Democrats who broke the quorum. These warrants were handed over to the offices and homes of the Democrats who break the quorum by the Sergeant-at-Arms of the House of Representatives. Phelan later called on law enforcement to help investigate the boycott of Democrats, even though no arrests were made.

The threat of arrest has long been on the minds of the quorum-breaking Democrats, which is why most of them have stayed out of the state for the past few weeks.

But on Aug. 8, Travis County District Court judge Brad Urrutia issued an order blocking the arrests of Democrats who break the quorum.

This order should expire in 14 days unless extended by Urrutia. The district court was due to speak about the injunction on August 20th.

Some House Republicans are urging Phelan to be more aggressive with the arrest warrants. But at a press conference Monday, House Republican Caucus chairman Jim Murphy, of West Houston, said he was not expecting physical arrests – at least not now.

“I don’t know if they’ll reach that level,” Murphy said when asked about the possibility of physical arrest by The Dallas Morning News. “Right now it’s more like a jury subpoena.”

Several Republican MPs standing next to Murphy frowned as he dismissed the idea of ​​Democratic quorum breakers being arrested and pushed back into the Capitol.

But Murphy didn’t rule out more aggressive action, despite insisting that diplomacy with the Democrats was the best way forward.

Mass arrests of Democrats, especially colored House MPs, would likely be a spectacle that casts a negative light on Phelan, Abbott and the GOP.

But what if the quorum pause continues?

“There will be another conversation down the line,” Murphy said, adding that arrest warrants would be served in “households and businesses.”

“Hopefully we’ll get enough of it back,” he said. “We don’t need all of them to come back, just four.”

It is unclear when the stalemate over the quorum break will last. On Tuesday, Republican leaders reached out to Democrats in the House of Representatives to get a quorum and begin Abbott’s 17 items on the agenda.

But the majority of Democrats who stayed away from the Capitol on Tuesday remained determined to boycott the session, even though it only takes a handful of Democrats to give Phelan a quorum.

In his opinion, Blacklock said it was not the job of the Supreme Court to deal with political issues.

“The question in this court now is not whether it is a good idea for the Texas House of Representatives to arrest absent members to enforce a quorum,” he wrote. “Also the question of whether the proposed voting legislation that leads to this dispute is desirable. These are political questions that lie far outside the judicial function. “

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